Visual Effects artist and longtime associate of Pirromount had passed away November 17, 2024 from a heart attack, just a week before his 68th birthday. Campbell worked on every single one of our films since our first short “Buns” in 1978 through our last film “The Deceased Won’t Desist!” in 2021.
Filmmaker Mark Pirro and Campbell met back in 1975 when a 19 year old Pirro worked at the stunt show on the Universal Studios Tour. Glenn was already a tour guide at the time. They struck up a friendship that would last almost 50 years. At the time, Glenn suggested that Pirro try out to be a tour guide, and when Pirro was readying himself for the test, he audio recorded one of Glenn’s tour, memorized it verbatim, and passed at the head of the class. For the next couple of years, both Pirro and Campbell shared numerous Universal experiences.
Eventually Campbell became a visual effects artist working on films from Superman, Tron, Spaceballs, Dick Tracy, and countless others. Around 2014, Campbell got a job at The Asylum and worked on all of their films, including the Sharknado series (which he got Pirro to work on as well). Around 2017, Campbell became the head visual effects supervisor for the company.
He won an Emmy for visual effects in 2003 for the HBO show “Children of Dune.”
However, with all his credits and busy schedule, he would always make himself available to work on any Pirromount film that was in production. Whether it was being an actor, extra, crew member, or most of the time visual effects supervisor or consultant, Campbell was always there to help Pirro with his films. He also taught Pirro many effects programs like After Effects and Lightwave, with the old ‘teach a man to fish’ attitude.
Around 2014, Campbell developed Leukemia and was in the hospital for several months. At that time, we were preparing ourselves that he might now make it. Well, he survived that and went back to his work. He was fine for over 10 years but unfortunately on the day of his death, he started experiencing chest pains, and passing out. He was taken to emergency, where he passed away from a heart attack in the early morning.
We at Pirromount will never be able to fully express the grief we are feeling. The fact that one of the original pioneers of our filmmaking is no longer with us. A memorial was held for him on Sunday, December 8th where videos were shown illustrating his long career, including this one that we made specifically for it. The video is a combination of his professional achievements as well as some of the personal moments that we shared. You can see the video below. So all we can say is RIP Mr. C. You made an indelible impact on us, our films, and our memories.
