film. Berkey reportedly never saw Star Wars, and this is evidenced in the fact that he illustrated multiple Millennium Falcon spaceships (in the film there is only one). Berkey said of the poster in an interview, "It was the first time that I was asked to paint fictional space crafts not of my own design". The painting was issued as a souvenir poster that was included in the first release of the Star Wars Original Motion Picture Soundtrack by 20th Century Records. Berkey's involvement in Star Wars was brought to an end after a conflict of interest with his work for rival film studio Universal on the 1978 TV series Battlestar Galactica. Berkey revisited the Star Wars universe in 1983 when he was commissioned to provide the cover artwork for the Atari video game, Return of the Jedi: Death Star Battle. Postage stamps In 1992, the US Postal Service held a public vote on the design of a new commemorative stamp which was to feature Elvis Presley. Two designs were shortlisted: a younger Elvis by Mark Stutzman, and an older Elvis by John Berkey. Stutzman's "Young Elvis" won the competition with over 75% of the votes. Berkey nevertheless went on to design 15 other postage stamps, including the 1991 Christmas stamp featuring an illustration of Santa Claus. Honors and awards In 1999, John Berkey received the Spectrum Award for Grand Master. In 2004 he was elected to the Society of Illustrators' Hall of Fame. On March 22, 2007, Excelsior, Minnesota honored him with "John Berkey Day." John Berkey was Artist Guest of Honor at Minicon 35 in 2000. Death and legacy Berkey died of heart failure on April 28, 2008 at his home in Excelsior, Minnesota. Many of his original paintings are periodically on display at ArtOrg in Northfield, Minnesota. In his lifetime, Berkey influenced a number of artists, especially science fiction artists, among them James Gurney, Drew Struzan, Vincent Di Fate, Stephen Youll, John Picacio, Brandon Peterson and Michael Kaluta. Artist Corrie Erickson studied under Berkey. See also :Category:Film posters by John Berkey :Category:Book covers by John Berkey Chris Achilleos Chris Foss Suzy Rice Tom Jung List of Star Wars artists References External links John Berkey Art Ltd., official website of the John Berkey estate John Berkey in the Science Fiction Encyclopedia International Association of Astronomical Artists International Space Art Network American speculative fiction artists 1932 births 2008 deaths