MUMBAI: 67-year old Grant McCune, the visual-effects designer of Star Wars expired of pancreatic cancer on Monday.

Incidentally. McCune had shared the honour of winning his Oscar for Star Wars, the original of George Lucas‘ six-film sci-fi franchise with John Stears, John Dykstra, Richard Edlund and Robert Blalack.

He was also nominated for an Oscar in 1980 for Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

Armed with a bachelor‘s degree in biology, McCune got his break with Jaws, when he and Bill Shourt were hired to make a giant white shark model which neither was credited with.

He later went on to become a partner at Apogee Prods., where he worked on three dozen films including Die Hardi, Never Say Never Again, Big, Space Balls and Caddyshack amongst others. Striking out on his own, the VFX director did films such as Speed, Batman Forever, U.S. Marshals, Red Planet, U-571, Spider-Man and Serenity.

He is survived by his wife, a son and a daughter.