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Con Pederson, one of four special effects supervisors on “2001: A Space Odyssey,” died Friday at the MPTF residence in Woodland Hills following complications from Alzheimer’s. He was 91.
Pederson was a fixture in the field of science fiction filmmaking, particularly thanks to his involvement on Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey” in 1968. Alongside three other special effects supervisors including Douglas Trumbull, Wally Veevers and Tom Howard, Pederson’s work led the director to his Oscar win for best visual effects in 1969. On set, Pederson ran the “war room,” where the VFX shots were planned, scheduled, tracked and evaluated. For each shot, anywhere from eight to ten elements were added to the original camera negative, an intricate process that took months.
In Michael Benson’s 2018 book “Space Odyssey,” the author quotes Trumbull as saying, “The film’s post-production process was epic in its complexity and Con was the smartest guy in the room.” He added that “‘2001’ absolutely would not have happened without Con.”
After working on the film, Pederson went on to co-found pioneering computer animation company Robert Abel and Associates, where he worked as an animator and programmer alongside Bob Abel. Following the company’s closing, he continued as a creative lead at Metrolight Studios alongside Tim McGovern.
“Con was a constant source of wisdom and knowledge,” said John Nelson, who met Pederson during his time at Robert Abel and Associates. “He was a Renaissance man who was both an artist and a technician. He could animate by hand or write computer programs to generate animations. Several people from Robert Abel’s went on to win Oscars for Visual Effects. I was lucky enough to be one of them.”
Before Pederson began his career in the film industry, he attended UCLA, where he majored in art and anthropology. During his time there, Pederson was hired at Disney after making student films. He was then drafted into the U.S. Army, where he worked with Wernher von Braun on rocket projects. Pederson went on to work at Graphic Films following his time, where he wrote and directed the 1964 film “To The Moon And Beyond” for the world’s fair. Kubrick saw the film, and thus hired Pederson to work on “2001: A Space Odyssey.”
Outside of work, he created crossword puzzles that were published across the New York Times, the Wall St. Journal and the Washington Post, and loved science fiction, hiking, sailing and collecting and building things with bricks he had collected from all over the country.
Pederson is survived by his wife Carole and his son Eric, stepchildren Tracey and Morgan and grandchildren Alex and Vivi.
English (US) ·