Matthew Yuricich
Matthew J. Yuricich was an American special effects artist.Biography
Born of Croatian immigrant parents in Lorain, Ohio, he spoke only Croatian when he started grade school. After graduating high school in 1941, he joined the U.S. Navy. He served on the escort carrier USS Nassau, seeing combat in the Pacific Theater.
Before becoming a special effects artist, Yuricich received a bachelor's degree in Fine Arts from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio where he also played football and joined Phi Kappa Tau fraternity. He received Miami's 2006 Distinguished Achievement Award for his career achievements and was a charter member of the Phi Kappa Tau Hall of Fame.
A pre-war friendship with pinup star Betty Grable allowed Yuricich entry into the movie industry after the war. As a matte artist, much of his early studio work was uncredited but included work on Forbidden Planet, North by Northwest and Ben-Hur. Some of his later credits are Soylent Green, Young Frankenstein, The China Syndrome and 1941, Blade Runner, Ghostbusters and 2010, Fright Night, , The Boy Who Could Fly and Solarbabies, Masters of the Universe, Die Hard, Field of Dreams, Dances with Wolves and Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man.
Yuricich won the 1976 Academy Special Achievement Award for visual effects in the movie Logan's Run. He was nominated for the best visual effects Oscar for his work on Close Encounters of the Third Kind in 1977. His brother is Academy Award-nominated special effects artist Richard Yuricich.
