Lucasfilm's Industrial Light & Magic Mourns the Loss of Visual Effects Stage Technician Dick Dova Spah

In some sad news coming out of Lucasfilm's in-house visual effects department Industrial Light & Magic, longtime stage technician and grip Dick Dova Spah has passed away at the age of 90.

Richard "Dick" Dova Spah was born in 1936 to his father, actor and acrobat Ben Dova, and mother Evelyn Veronica Spah, and the family evidently-- and quite dramatically-- survived the Hindenburg explosion the following year. Dick got his start in the film industry as a best boy (assistant electrician or rigger) and a grip (rigging technician) in the very early 1970s, eventually working on science-fiction movies like United Artists' Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978). He joined Industrial Light & Magic as a stage technician for 1980's The Empire Strikes Back and went on to contribute to Return of the Jedi, the original Indiana Jones trilogy, Dragonslayer, Poltergeist, Tucker: the Man and His Dream, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Starman, Explorers, Howard the Duck, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Willow, and more through the 1990s.

"The ILM community mourns the loss of our former colleague Dick Dova Spah," said Industrial Light & Magic via a statement on the company's social media feeds. "For those who worked at ILM in the 1980s and '90s, he was simply known as 'Dickie,' and was one of the company's inimitable stagehands and key grips. Coming to ILM out of the San Francisco theatrical scene to work on Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Dickie was involved in numerous productions, from E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom to Hook and Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. Our heart goes out to all of Dickie's loved ones. We'll continue to take inspiration from his energetic devotion to his work, warmth of character, and penchant for telling a good story."

While Dick Dova Spah may not be among the most well-known names to come out of ILM and Lucasfilm, every role on a movie set is important, and his contributions are unquestionably part of what made so many of these movies magical for audiences. He passed away in March at the age of 90, but will be remembered by his loved ones and those he touched through his work.