The Greatest James Bond Artist of All Time Has Died

Robert E. McGinnis almost made it to 100 years old. But at the age of 99, the famous artist died in Greenwich, Connecticut. His death occurred last month, on March 10, according to a report from The New York Times published on April 17, 2025. 

For James Bond fans, it was the art of McGinnis on the posters for the early Sean Connery movies that forever defined the vigorous, explosive, and titillating world of 007. But McGinnis' first movie poster art commission wasn't a Bond film. Instead, in an era in which movie posters were almost always works of art (rather than photograph montages), the first poster McGinnis did was for the Audrey Hepburn classic Breakfast at Tiffany's. He also did the artwork for the famous Barbarella poster in 1968.

A original painting for the poster art of the James Bond movie "You Only Live Twice" by artist Robert McGinnis that will be auctioned for an estimated $20-30,000.00 by Bonhams auctioneers on May 14 as part of the "Wonders of the Galaxy - Science Fiction and Fantasy in Film" auction in Hollywood, California on May 13, 2019. (Photo by Mark RALSTON / AFP) (Photo credit should read MARK RALSTON/AFP via Getty Images)

MARK RALSTON/Getty Images

But it was McGinnis's career illustrating the covers of pulp novels that landed him the movie poster gig in the first place. Back in the 1950s, McGinnis's covers for books with titles like Nymph to the Slaughter and Murder on Her Mind, mixed sex and danger in a unique and infamous way. If you see a vintage pulp novel in a used bookstore, and it catches your eye, it's probably something done by Robert McGinnis.

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The artist continued to work well into the 21st century, and even did the cover of Stephen King's 2014 novel Joyland. In fact, plenty of contemporary crime and action books feature covers either by or inspired by, Robert McGinnis.

In 1977, Carly Simone told us that "nobody does it better" than James Bond. But in the world of a certain kind of action art, nobody did it better than Robert McGinnis.

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