Saul Bass; Innovative Film Title Designer

Saul Bass, a graphic designer who created internationally known trademarks and innovative film titles for such features as “The Man With the Golden Arm,” “Vertigo,” “Psycho” and “West Side Story,” has died. He was 75.

Bass, chairman and creative director of the Bass/Yager & Associates design firm, died Thursday of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Among his myriad accolades was a 1968 Academy Award for best documentary short subject for his film “Why Man Creates.” Bass was also nominated for Oscars for “Notes on the Popular Arts” in 1977 and “The Solar Film” in 1979.

Bass designed logos and trademarks for such organizations as American Telephone & Telegraph, United Airlines, the Girl Scouts of America and the Motion Picture Centennial Committee, which was formed to observe the 100th anniversary of film. He also designed the posters for the five most recent Academy Awards ceremonies.

A book about his work, “Saul Bass: A Life in Film and Design,” by film critic Joe Morgenstern, is scheduled for publication in September.

With the famous crooked arm for the 1955 Frank Sinatra film about drug addiction, “The Man With the Golden Arm,” Bass revolutionized films’ previously mundane opening title sequences.

He continued to develop the genre he created, with a falling petal becoming a tear on a girl’s face in “Bonjour Tristesse,” a young black cat prowling alleys in “Walk on the Wild Side,” and the stark, whirling red titles of “Goodfellas.”

Bass made the title sequence into more than stylish typography--turning it into visual shorthand introducing the story and suggesting key ideas and themes. In “Psycho,” Bass’ jagged titles presaged the film’s landmark shower scene.

“I style the total design around a film--short, that is, of the film itself,” he told The Times in 1958. “I create a symbol for it, one that can be used in every possible way from title to campaign and that can become a key to the film itself. This is my real concern: to give each film a unique individuality.”

“Packaging,” he said in another Times interview about trademarks 30 years later, “is the product.”

Among other films with the Bass touch were “The Seven Year Itch,” “Anatomy of a Murder,” “North by Northwest,” “Exodus,” “Advise and Consent,” “Grand Prix,” “Spartacus,” “Broadcast News,” “Big” and last year’s “Casino.”

Bass made one feature length motion picture, “Phase IV” in 1974. He and his wife, Elaine Bakatura, co-directed a 1984 short titled “Quest,” which won the Moscow Film Festival’s Gold Medal.

A native of New York, Bass was educated at the Art Students League and Brooklyn College.

In addition to his wife, Bass is survived by two sons, two daughters and a granddaughter.

The family has asked that any memorial donations be made to a charity of the donor’s choice.