'Yellow Submarine' art director Heinz Edelmann dies

     The cover of the Beatles' "Yellow Submarine" album. Heinz
      Edelmann, who was art director for the project, has died.
      (Copyright Apple Corps Ltd.)
 

Heinz Edelmann, the art director for the Beatles' film "Yellow Submarine," has died at age 75, reports the Associated Press.

Edelmann died Tuesday in a hospital in Stuttgart, Germany, according to the State Academy of Art and Design, where Edelmann was employed as as a professor until 1999. No cause of death was listed.

Mitch Axelrod, author of "Beatletoons, The Real Story Behind The Cartoon Beatles," which looks at the Beatles' Saturday morning cartoon series and how "Yellow Submarine" spawned it, says it was Edelmann's genius that made "Yellow Submarine" what it was.

"To be honest, Heinz Edelmann was an incredibly gifted art director. He was exactly what the Beatles needed for 'Yellow Submarine' to become such a classic," Axelrod said in a phone interview. "He was to 'Yellow Submarine” what Peter Sander was to the Beatles cartoon series. Peter Sander was the original designer of the characters for the Beatles cartoon series. They were perfect for what they were, meaning the series was a silly little goofy series about the Beatles and the characters were also drawn very bubbly, very silly, very perfect for the series.

"And as many people may or may not know," he continued, "the original early early conception ideas for 'Yellow Submarine' was to use the original Beatles series characters in the 'Yellow Submarine' movie. And the Beatles would have none of that. So they hired Heinz to design the characters for the new animation project.

"And it was perfect. He made them older, more serious, but still pretty bubbly and creative in terms of animation. But it was a totally different look and, I think, it was because of those character designs that 'Yellow Submarine' is a classic. And he should get all the credit for that because he was brilliant."

According to Bill Harry's "The Beatles Encyclopedia," Edelmann worked almost around the clock for 11 months on the film, designing all the characters. The film's Blue Meanies were supposed to be Red Meanies, but an assistant misread the instructions and made them the wrong color.

Edelmann's other credits include the design of the first cover of "Lord of the Rings" in Germany.