RIP Dan O'Bannon 1946 - 2009

Dan O'Bannon, the screenwriter of classic genre films such as Alien and Total Recall and cult favourites Dead and Buried, Dark Star and Return of the Living Dead, has died at the age of 63 in Los Angeles following a short illness.

O'Bannon attended USC film school in the early '70s where he met director John Carpenter and the pair collaborated on Carpenter's debut feature Dark Star. O'Bannon co-wrote, edited, supervised the special effects and portrayed Sgt Pinback in this existential sci-fi comedy.

O'Bannon soon quit his job on the visual effects team on Star Wars to begin screenwriting full time. His first project after Dark Star was a script titled Star Beast - co-written by Ronald Shusett - which would later be filmed as Alien by Ridley Scott. The writer would also go on to work with Tobe Hooper on Lifeforce and Invaders From Mars.

O'Bannon is survived by his wife Diane Louise Lindley and their son Adam. He made significant contributions to the genre and will be sadly missed.

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