Blade Runner special effects pioneer Douglas Trumbull dies aged 79

US film director and special effects supervisor Douglas Trumbull (Keystone, Urs Flueeler/AP)

Douglas Trumbull, a visual effects master who showed movie audiences images of the future and of space in films like 2001: A Space Odyssey and Blade Runner, has died at the age of 79.

His wife Julia Trumbull said he died on Monday of complications from mesothelioma.