almost indistinguishable from reality. The Progress Medal is the most prestigious SMPTE award, and it recognizes outstanding technical contributions to the progress of engineering phases of the motion picture, television, or motion-imaging industries. The honor was conferred upon Trumbull at the SMPTE Centennial Gala on October 28, 2016, at the Ray Dolby Ballroom in Hollywood. In 2011, he received the SMPTE Presidential Proclamation, which recognizes individuals of established and outstanding status and reputation in the motion-picture, television, and motion-imaging industries worldwide. Trumbull was honored for his more than 45 years of pioneering work in visual effects photography and groundbreaking innovation in motion picture technologies. Trumbull was inducted by the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2010, citing first his stature as "innovative master of special effects". He has been nominated for Academy Awards on three occasions and has received the American Society of Cinematographer's Lifetime Achievement Award. Trumbull received the International Press Academy's Tesla award in December 2011, named in honor of Nikola Tesla, an inventor, scientist and engineer, who, Trumbull noted dryly in a runway interview, "Died penniless, after lots of people took credit for his work." He went on to say that he hopes it doesn't turn out that way for him. Trumbull also received the Gordon E. Sawyer Award in February 2012, an honorary Academy Award given to an "individual in the motion picture industry whose technological contributions have brought credit to the industry", as well as the Georges Méliès award from the Visual Effects Society in the same month. Personal life and death Trumbull was married three times and had two children. He was in poor health for the last two years of his life, due to complications from a stroke and cancer. He died from mesothelioma at a hospital in Albany, New York, on February 7, 2022, at the age of 79. His ashes are due to be sent into space with those of Majel Barrett and Nichelle Nichols. See also The Starlost – a 1973 TV series for which Trumbull was executive producer FMX Conference on Animation, Effects, Games and Interactive Media (German Wikipedia) at the Film Academy Baden-Württemberg References External links Trumbull Studios video on Magi system. 1942 births 2022 deaths Deaths from cancer in New York (state) Deaths from mesothelioma Film directors from Los Angeles Recipients of the Gordon E. Sawyer Award Science Fiction Hall of Fame inductees Science fiction film directors