Bill Gold: 70 Years of Iconic Movie Poster Designs

From his first iconic movie poster for Jimmy Cagney’s Yankee Doodle Dandy in 1942 to his final work for longtime friend and colleague Clint Eastwood with J. Edgar in 2011, Bill Gold’s incredible vision inspired more than 2,000 promotional designs over his 70-year career.

With thoughtful curation from his widow and collaborator, Susan Gold, the JBFC was granted unprecedented access to his priceless original art, draft designs, sketches, and prints that bring to life the individual stories of movie posters from the pre-digital age and their almost mystical power to entice audiences to fill theater seats.

Bill Gold worked with many leading directors, including Stanley Kubrick, Alfred Hitchcock, Vincente Minnelli, John Ford, and John Huston. But his longest collaboration was with Clint Eastwood, the results of which were featured in the exhibit.

Some of his posters include: Casablanca, Klute, Deliverance, My Fair Lady, The Exorcist, Dial M for Murder, Dirty Harry, A Streetcar Named Desire, East of Eden, and Giant.