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7 things you probably didn’t know about Colin Cantwell
As I conduct research for the upcoming book about Colin Cantwell’s life, I’ve been amazed at the wide variety of interests he had. So far, I’ve uncovered that Colin pursued art, design, music, architecture, model-making (kit-bashing in particular), photography, writing, engineering, sewing his own clothes, and quantum physics. That last one was a lifelong passion of his, but he was really good at all of those other things too!
Here are 7 fun facts about Colin that you probably didn’t already know (unless you’re his long-time partner, Sierra Dall):
1
Colin could improvise music on a piano
Hal Barwood, a fellow writer and filmmaker who introduced Colin to George Lucas, told me: “Among the things that I learned about them was that both Carolyn and Colin could sit down at a piano and improvise fantastic music endlessly.” The Carolyn he refers to is Carolyn Albright, who was Colin’s girlfriend in the late 60s and early 70s.
2
Colin played an instrumental role in Hewlett-Packard’s early computer graphics
Colin’s association with HP started in the early 80s, when he offered “lucid and valuable contributions to the user interface, area fill algorithms, and the integration of key resources within the graphics firmware” for the System 45C computer, according to an HP Journal from 1980.
3
Colin fed information from the lunar lander to CBS anchor Walter Cronkite during the 1969 moon landing
The Apollo 11 flight plan was among the incredible artifacts unearthed by Colin and Sierra when they had to clean out their basement in preparation for a move in 2014. Colin studied it for months ahead of the July 20, 1969 landing by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, earning himself a seat near CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite as the event unfolded. Some drama occurred when Colin informed Walter that the Eagle hadn’t landed yet, despite ABC and NBC reporting that it had (Armstrong decided not to set the lander down in the original spot), since he was monitoring the feed from the lunar lander live. Colin had a CBS News producer yelling at him about the situation, but Colin was vindicated.
4
Colin wrote an opera
Admittedly, I don’t know a lot about this one so far, but the excavation in the basement also uncovered concepts for an opera with the title The 6-D Carousel From Vela. The first page features the image of an exploding star with the text, “A thousand generations ago, as early man huddled around campfires, the Velans made a mistake. The annihilation of their star was brighter than Earth’s full moon.” I’m hoping I can learn more about this one during my research!
5
Colin worked on a movie with ILM alum John Dykstra
During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Colin worked at Graphic Films, the company started by ex-Disney animator Les Novros in 1941. (Novros also taught at USC; one of his students was George Lucas.) Graphic Films’ roster at the time was a “who’s who” of people who went on to work on some of the biggest movies in history, including Hal Barwood, Con Pederson, Douglas Trumbull, Ben Burtt, Robert Swarthe, and John Dykstra, whose Dykstraflex motion control system was used for the specific effects in Star Wars. Colin and Dykstra worked together on a film called Voyage to the Outer Planets.
6
Colin sewed his own clothes
Many of the people I’ve interviewed have talked about Colin’s penchant for wearing Lycra jumpsuits that he sewed himself with a serger sewing machine, which is better than a traditional sewing machine for making such clothes. Among Colin’s Lycra jumpsuits was one with a bumblebee pattern.
7
Colin worked for the famous designers Charles and Ray Eames
Charles Eames and his wife, Ray, were designers who made significant contributions to 20th century architecture and furniture, along with their side jobs as graphic designers, fine artists, and filmmakers. Colin worked for the Eames Office during the summer of 1959, where he constructed a gravity well that was used in the Eames exhibition Mathematica: A World of Numbers… and Beyond in 1961.