- Bonestell was trained as an architect. In the 1930s he worked on San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge, doing engineering drawings. He then moved to Hollywood where he became a matte artist, doing background and special effects paintings. Within a few years he was earning $1500 per month at this. In 1944 he did a series of astronomical paintings for Life magazine, showing with photographic realism views that might be seen on and around other planets. This sort of work, along with science-fictional subjects, became his main specialty thereafter, for books and magazines as well as the movies.
- IMDb mini biography by: Anonymous
- SpousesRuby Helder(1920 - ?)?(divorced - his first marriage)
- Produced at least 50 cover illustrations for the major science-fiction magazines.
- "Bonestell" has three syllables.
- As well as working on the Golden Gate Bridge, he also designed the facade of the Chrysler Building in New York and the memorial at Plymouth Rock (Massachusetts, USA), and he co-designed the scenic 17-Mile Drive in Monterey (California, USA).
- An asteroid and a crater on Mars are both named Bonestell in his honor.
- Illustrator of 10 books including Willy Ley's 1949 classic "The Conquest of Space".
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