Derek Meddings
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Derek Meddings (15 January 1931–10 September 1995) was a British television and cinema special effects expert, initially noted for his work on the "Supermarionation" television puppet series produced by Gerry Anderson.
His first work with Anderson was as the uncredited art assistant on Anderson's first puppet series, Torchy the Battery Boy, produced in 1957. He is credited with the special effects in Anderson's 1960 and 1962 series Supercar and Fireball XL5, being elevated to special effects director on 1963's Stingray and special effects supervisor on 1964's Thunderbirds, where he was responsible for the design of the Thunderbirds craft. He was visual effects supervisor for all the Anderson puppet series of the late 1960s (Captain Scarlet, Joe 90, The Secret Service) and also on Anderson's first live-action series UFO. During his time working on these series, he and his team developed a number of innovations which have become standard in the industry.
In the 1970s he developed his career by working on the special effects for the James Bond movies The Man with the Golden Gun, The Spy Who Loved Me, and Moonraker, going on later to work on For Your Eyes Only and GoldenEye, on which he was working at the time of his death. He also worked on the Superman movies, Supergirl, Santa Claus: The Movie, The Neverending Story II and III, Batman, Hudson Hawk and other films.
[edit] Awards
- For his work on Superman, in 1979 Derek Meddings was awarded a shared Special Achievement Award for special effects by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and shared the Michael Balcon Award of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA).
- He was also nominated for the 1980 Oscar (Best effects, visual effects) for his work on Moonraker, for the 1990 BAFTA Film Award for best special effects for Batman, and posthumously for the 1996 BAFTA Film Award for best achievement in special effects for GoldenEye.
