Douglas was a huge pioneer in special effects, namely with Science Fiction. He cut his teeth with Kubrick via 2001 because the prickly director liked his work on a documentary for the World’s Fair about going to the Moon. This led to him lending his skills to other faves: Silent Running, The Andromeda Strain, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Star Trek: the Motion Picture and Blade Runner. Lucas asked him to work on Star Wars but Douglas turned it down because he had a prior commitment. Phew! At least it wasn’t, “That movie sounds like a piece of crap and it will fail!”
Thanks for everything Douglas! The movies you did work on definitely got Hollywood to put more money and effort into the special effects. The agro-ships from Silent Running remain awesome while your look from Blade Runner fueled numerous imitators.