- Bonestell was trained as an architect. In the 1930s he worked on San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge, doing engineering drawings. He then moved to Hollywood where he became a matte artist, doing background and special effects paintings. Within a few years he was earning $1500 per month at this. In 1944 he did a series of astronomical paintings for Life magazine, showing with photographic realism views that might be seen on and around other planets. This sort of work, along with science-fictional subjects, became his main specialty thereafter, for books and magazines as well as the movies.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Anonymous
- SpousesRuby Helder(1920 - ?)?(divorced - his first marriage)
- Illustrator of 10 books including Willy Ley's 1949 classic "The Conquest of Space".
- Produced at least 50 cover illustrations for the major science-fiction magazines.
- Painted a 10 x 40 foot mural for the Boston Museum of Science, later moved to the National Air & Space Museum in Washington, DC.
- "Bonestell" has three syllables.
- His first astronomical painting was done in 1905: after seeing Saturn through the 12-inch telescope at San Jose's Lick Observatory, he rushed home to paint what he'd seen. The painting was destroyed in the fire that followed the 1906 earthquake.
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