James Bond Legend Dies at 103: Joe Caroff Designed the 007 Logo

Joe Caroff, one of cinema’s most famous graphic designers, has died. He was 103.

He died on Sunday in Manhattan, just one day before his 104th birthday, while in hospice care, according to his sons Peter and Michael.

If you haven’t seen Caroff’s name, you’ve certainly seen his work. Most famously, he created the 007 logo for the James Bond franchise and created the posters for West Side Story and A Hard Day’s Night.

He also created the opening sequences for several classic movies, including works by Richard Attenborough, Gene Saks, Woody Allen, and Martin Scorsese. With Scorsese, he created the iconic opening sequence for his 1988 religious drama The Last Temptation of Christ, which famously pulls back from a red sea of lines to reveal a crown of thorns.

Caroff had over 300 posters under his belt, including Bob Fosse’s Cabaret, Bernardo Bertolucci’s Last Tango in Paris, Sergio Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More, Michael Crichton’s The Great Train Robbery, Bond flicks like Dr. No, and a double-digit number of Woody Allen movies that include one of his most famous works, Manhattan.

He also designed plenty of logos, like the logo for ABC’s Olympic coverage, ABC News, and the ABC news series 20/20.

Famously, Caroff was only paid $300 for the iconic Bond logo, and has never seen a dime from it since.

He is survived by his two sons and his granddaughter.