Andrew Porter alerts us to the fact that “Illustrator and cover artist Mitchell Hooks, 89, died the week of March 18th. His covers appeared on paperbacks from Avon, Bantam, Dell, Fawcett, and others; his illustrations were used by numerous magazines, including Cosmopolitan, The Ladies’ Home Journal, McCall’s, Redbook, The Saturday Evening Post, and Woman’s Day.

“Although not known for his SF covers, he did several, as illustrated here: http://todaysinspiration.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/a-visit-with-mitchell-hooks-part-3.html.”

Hooks was born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1923, and served in the U.S. military during and after World War II. After leaving the service, he moved to New York City to begin his freelance illustration career. In addition to the book and magazine covers, he illustrated the 36-page booklet How to Respect and Display Our Flag for the US Marine Corps. He also designed film posters, including the first James Bond movie, Dr. No — for which he painted the iconic image of Sean Connery as Bond (see this page) — and The Face of Fu Manchu.