Dan O'Bannon, the screenwriter behind 'Alien', 'Total Recall' and 'The Return Of The Living Dead', has died after a short illness at the age of 63.O'Bannon attended USC film school in the early '70s where he met director John Carpenter. The pair worked together on Carpenter's debut feature 'Dark Star', which O'Bannon co-wrote, edited, acted in, and served as special effects supervisor.
He was part of the pioneering visual effects team for 'Star Wars', before he switched his skills to screenwriting full time with his debut script being 'Alien', which he penned with Ronald Shusett.
O'Bannon's other credits include 'Blue Thunder', 'Screamers', 'Bleeders', 'Heavy Metal', 'Lifeforce' and he directed as well as scripted cult horror favourites 'The Return Of The Living Dead' and 'The Resurrected'.
