Star Trek and Broadway costume designer Robert Fletcher has passed away, aged 98
Star Trek film costumes. (L-R) Persis Khambatta as Ilia in Star Trek: The Motion Picture; DeForest Kelley, George Takei and Nichelle Nichols in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan; Ricardo Montalban as Khan in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan; Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
APRIL 15, 2021 - Sad news today as costume designer Robert Fletcher has passed away. A piece in Deadline.com reported this week that Fletcher died peacefully on April 5th from undisclosed causes. He was 98.
If you’re a Star Trek fan, you’re probably very familiar with Fletcher’s work, but you might not even realize it. Fletcher was the costume designer for the first four Star Trek films: The Motion Picture, The Wrath of Khan, The Search for Spock and The Voyage Home. His work was so iconic in those films that it earned him three Saturn Award nominations and a win, in 1987.
TrekCore.com tweeted a fantastic thread of Fletcher’s work for Star Trek. They captioned the pictures, “#RIP to longtime Hollywood costume designer Robert Fletcher, who helmed the costume department for the first four #StarTrek films and created these iconic looks -- including the 'monster maroon' uniforms for ‘The Wrath of Khan.’”
#RIP to longtime Hollywood costume designer Robert Fletcher, who helmed the costume department for the first four #StarTrek films and created these iconic looks -- including the 'monster maroon' uniforms for "The Wrath of Khan."https://t.co/wOWZomebY8 pic.twitter.com/R4gk1Gs1W8
— TrekCore.com 🖖 (@TrekCore) April 14, 2021
Fletcher’s work wasn’t just confined to Klingons and Vulcans and Monster Maroons, though: outside of Star Trek, and film in general, he had successful careers in costuming for television and for Broadway as well. He was nominated for three Tony Awards for his various stage productions, a Primetime Emmy award for his work on the miniseries North and South (which featured Star Trek: The Next Generation’s Jonathan Frakes before he was Riker), and he earned a lifetime achievement award in 2005 from the Costume Designers Guild.
Please join me in sending condolences to Fletcher’s family.
