American artist Robert E. McGinnis, well known and highly regarded for his illustrations on over 1400 paperback book covers, spanning detective novels, espionage, romance, historical adventure, Gothics, and Westerns, and art for more than 50 movie posters, died on 10th March 2025, aged 99, his death only recently announced.
Born in Cincinnati, Ohio and raised in rural farm country in Wyoming, McGinnis initially worked as an apprentice at Walt Disney in the early 1940s, despite having limited vision in one eye. He served in the Merchant Marine towards the end of World War Two, before returning to his art studies at Ohio State University and at a private art school in Cincinnati. He then relocated to New York, initially finding work as an illustrator in advertising.
A chance meeting with artist and illustrator Mitchell Hooks in 1958 (the artist who would who gave the world their first look at a stylised Sean Connery as 007 on the 1962 Dr. No film poster) led him to work with Dell Publishing, initially drawing paperback covers for authors such as Edward S. Aarons, Carter Brown, Erle Stanley Gardner, Richard S. Prather, Michael Shayne and Donald Westlake.
“I didn’t plan anything,” he once said. “I was just trying to make a living. An assignment would come along and I’d do it.”
The emergence of the “McGinnis Woman” – long-legged, intelligent, alluring, and enigmatic – established him as the go-to artist for detective novels, producing 100 paintings for the Carter Brown adventures.
“My illustration work went through the roof,” he recalled of his pulp fiction work of the time. “I raised three kids on it. A lot of illustrators wouldn’t do them – they were considered cheap and low-grade. But I enjoyed doing them. I didn’t see anything demeaning about it.”
He also created illustrations for magazines, including Argosy, Cavalier, an early men’s magazine, Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping, TIME and The Saturday Evening Post, among others.
McGinnis’ first film poster assignment was for Breakfast at Tiffanys released in 1961, original copies today fetching thousands on the art market. McGinnis broke from the style trends of the day with a minimalist approach that focused on Audrey Hepburn as the central image with a small romantic scene off to the side. Almost instantly, his poster artwork could be seen everywhere – in cinemas, on billboards, in newspapers, and, later, on soundtrack albums
His work much in demand in the 1960s and 1970s, an artist well known for his keen attention to detail, in addition to his art for James bond film posters such as Thunderball, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (with Frank McCarthy), You Only Live Twice, and The Man with the Golden Gun, he is also recognised for his poster of Barbarella, released in 1968, in which Jane Fonda is portrayed as both a sexy bombshell and powerful woman with muscular tone and a gun.
His paintings of the feminine form had a distinctive, signature look reflected in much of his work, including in posters for the James Bond and Matt Helm films that feature male protagonists.
He was also the main title designer for The Hallelujah Trail, an American Western epic mockumentary spoof directed by John Sturges, receiving more praise for his work on that than the actual film.
Some of his most ambitious works were his gallery paintings, often depicting stunning American landscapes, vast Western vistas, and of course, beautiful women.
McGinnis was recognised for his work on romance novel paperback covers by being awarded with the title of “Romantic Artist of the Year” by Romantic Times magazine in 1985, and was a member of the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame.
In 2004 he created cover illustrations for the Hard Case Crime paperback series. He is a and was the subject of the documentary Robert McGinnis: Painting the Last Rose of Summer by Paul Jilbert.
McGinnis is survived by children Melinda, Laurie and Kyle, three grandchildren and a brother, David McGinnis.
Robert Edward McGinnis 3rd February 1926 – 10th March 2025
• Official Website and Gallery: the-art-of-robert-e-mcginnis-llc.pixels.com
Further Reading
• RockPaperFilm: Robert McGinnis Film Posters
• Washington Post: Robert E. McGinnis Obituary
• Variety: Robert E. McGinnis Obituary
• MI6: Robert E. McGinnis Obituary – focused on his James Bond Art
• Illustration History: Robert E. McGinnis
• Wikipedia: Robert E. McGinnis
• Ragged Claws Network: Look Here – Five vignette-style covers with art by Robert McGinnis
• The Hallelujah Trail – Title Sequence: Not a Good Movie, but Nice Titles
• The Art of Robert E McGinnis by Robert E McGinnis (AmazonUK Affiliate Link)
The Art of Robert E. McGinnis collection, published by Titan Books in 2014, reveals the full scope and beauty of the work of a true American master.
Robert E. McGinnis created the distinctive and immediately recognisable artwork on many classic film posters such as Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Barbarella, You Only Live Twice, Live and Let Die, The Odd Couple, and Barefoot in the Park. He is also the illustrator of over 1200 paperback covers for authors such as Donald Westlake, Edward S. Aarons, and most recently, Stephen King. The Art of Robert E. McGinnis is the ultimate collector’s item for fans of his uniquely distinctive and evocative artwork, and serves as the definitive collection for movie buffs and book lovers alike.
• The Paperback Covers of Robert McGinnis by Art Scott and Wallace Maynard (AmazonUK Affiliate Link)
Robert McGinnis is one of the world’s most admired, influential and prolific illustrators, best known for his astonishing career as a paperback cover artist. His first covers appeared in 1958, and since then he has painted over one thousand of them, for all the major publishers in all genres. He is most renowned for his portraits of women. The elegant, sexy and intelligent McGinnis Woman is as distinctive and recognisable as was the Gibson Girl in the early 1900s. His paperback work is avidly sought after by collectors. However, collecting McGinnis covers has been a huge challenge, not only because of the unprecedented volume of his work, but because he was often uncredited, he worked in a wide variety of styles, and many illustrators imitated him. No reliable checklist has been available until now.
This book provides a complete and definitive bibliography documenting McGinnis’s work as a paperback cover artist. With the artist’s cooperation, it has been compiled by two long-time fans and collectors of his work, who began comparing notes and exchanging checklists in 1985.Over 250 paperback covers are reproduced in this book, along with many examples of the original art, model photos and preliminary sketches which afford an inside-the-studio look at the artist’s working methods. The parade of covers-mysteries, westerns, romances, bestsellers-is a capsule graphic survey of trends in American mass market fiction of the last forty years, and of the extraordinary career of a gifted illustrator, Robert McGinnis.
- About the Author
- Latest Posts
John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: Art and Illustration, Books, downthetubes News, Film, Obituaries, Other Worlds