Steen Ostergaard and Olivier Mourgue, two designers who separately worked on beloved Star Trek projects and the legendary film 2001: A Space Odyssey, have passed away.
Videos by Wide Open Country
Ostergaard died on Oct. 19, according to Deadline, citing The New York Times. The Danish designer was 90. Meanwhile, Mourgue, a French designer, died on Oct. 5 at age 87. The trailblazing designers' deaths were reported by The Times in separate obituaries today (Nov. 14).
Per Deadline, Ostergaard designed the white and black Model 265 President lounge chair, on which Admiral James T. Kirk (William Shatner) rested his glorious derrière in 1982's Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. However, the chair wasn't intended to be too futuristic...Despite being a citizen of the 23rd century, Kirk was an antique lover. The chair Ostergaard designed was meant to be from the 20th century in the film, in which DeForest Kelley's Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy is seen enjoying it at one point in the beloved film.
Ostergaard was well known for combining 1960s style with a modernistic pop art edge. Along with his work on Star Trek (his designs were used in at least one episode of the classic TV series), he also contributed furniture designs to the James Bond franchise. NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston also features furniture designed by Ostergaard.
The revered designer passed away at a nursing home in Harlev, in eastern Denmark.
Ostergaard and Mourgue's Work Both Featured in James Bond Projects
Meanwhile, Mourgue was personally recruited by 2001: A Space Odyssey director Stanley Kubrick after the legendary auteur spotted his work in a British magazine. Mourgue's vivid red "Djinn" chairs helped make the set of the blindingly white hotel on Space Station 5 pop. Named by the designer after shape-shifting genies, the chairs popping up in the 1968 film almost foreshadow an alien presence.
Like Ostergaard, Mourgue's designs graced the big screen in a film featuring 007.
The 1967 version of Casino Royale, a spoof of James Bond starring Peter Sellers, also featured one of Mourgue's "Djinn" chairs. At one point in the film, Sellers gives the chair (this time in pink) the spotlight... The iconic comedic actor performs some post-coital push-ups stretched across it.
Mourgue passed away at his home in Plouguiel, France.
