Carlo Rambaldi

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Carlo Rambaldi (September 15, 1925 – August 10, 2012) was an Italian special effects and makeup effects artist. He was the winner of three Academy Awards: one Special Achievement Academy Award for Best Visual Effects in 1977 for the 1976 version of King Kong[1] and two Academy Awards for Best Visual Effects in 1980 and 1983 for, respectively, Alien[2] (1979) and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial[3] (1982). He is most famous for his work in those two last mentioned films, that is for the mechanical head-effects for the creature in Alien and the design of the title character of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. In 2017, he was inducted into the Visual Effects Society Hall of Fame.

Early life

Carlo Rambaldi was born September 15, 1925, in Vigarano Mainarda, Emilia-Romagna.[4] He studied painting at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Bologna, where he developed a passion for electromechanics and the skeleton and musculature of the human body. He was heavily influenced by the work of Picasso and the Italian artist Renato Guttuso.[5]

Career

Rambaldi's first work in film was creating a fire-breathing dragon for the 1957 Italian picture Sigfrido[5] (titled in the English version as The Dragon's Blood).

In 1963 he became a full-time special effects artist. He worked with Italian directors including Mario Bava, Federico Fellini, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Mario Monicelli and Dario Argento.[5] Some films he worked on included Medusa vs the Son of Hercules (1962), Bloody Pit of Horror (1965), Planet of the Vampires (1965), Hercules and the Princess of Troy (1965), L'Odissea (1968, a TV miniseries), A Bay of Blood (1972), The Night of the Devils (1972), Andy Warhol's Frankenstein (1974), Andy Warhol's Dracula (1974), Deep Red (Profondo Rosso, 1975), King Kong (1976), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), Alien (1979), Nightwing (1979), Possession (1981), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), Dune (1984), Conan the Destroyer (1984), Silver Bullet (1985), Cat's Eye (1985), King Kong Lives (1986) and Cameron's Closet (1988), among others.

Rambaldi had the distinction of being the first special effects artist to be required to prove that his work on a film was not 'real'. Dog-mutilation scenes in the 1971 film A Lizard in a Woman's Skin were so convincingly visceral that its director, Lucio Fulci, was prosecuted for offenses relating to animal cruelty. Fulci would have served a two-year prison sentence, had Rambaldi not exhibited the film's array of props to a courtroom, proving that the scene was not filmed using real animals.[6][7]

Rambaldi's last screen credit was on the 1988 horror film Primal Rage, directed by his son Vittorio. When computer-generated special effects became common place, Rambaldi complained, "Any kid with a computer can reproduce the special effects seen in today’s movies. The mystery's gone. The curiosity that viewers once felt when they saw special effects has disappeared. It's as if a magician had revealed all of his tricks... There’s no question that these computer films are well packaged but the charm has disappeared... If Spielberg were to film E.T. today using the latest technology I'm not sure it would be a hit because the techniques they’re using at the moment couldn't reproduce the tender expression of ET's eyes, for example. The secret of creating what technology is unable to express lies in the work of the artisan, who is able to develop characteristics that touch our deepest emotions."[5]

Personal life and death

Carlo Rambaldi married Bruna Basso, with whom he had a son, Vittorio, and a daughter, Daniela.[8][5] Another son, Alessandro, died of a rare form of leukemia at 33 years of age.[9]

Rambaldi died after a long illness[10] on August 10, 2012, in Lamezia Terme, Calabria, where he had lived for the last decade of his life,[4] after relocating to be near his daughter and grandchildren.[11]

His ashes were laid to rest in the family tomb in Vigarano Mainarda, near his son Alessandro.[11]

Select filmography

Title Year Credited as Notes Ref(s)
Special effects Other
Dragon's Blood 1957 Yes Dragon creator Template:Sfn
Goliath and the Dragon 1960 Yes Special make-up effects Template:Sfn
Script error: No such module "sort". Yes Template:Sfn
Fire Monsters Against the Son of Hercules 1962 Yes Template:Sfn
Medusa Against the Son of Hercules 1963 Yes Template:Sfn
Bloody Pit of Horror 1965 Yes Template:Sfn
Danger: Diabolik 1968 Yes Set designer Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
Lady Frankenstein 1971 Yes Template:Sfn
Script error: No such module "sort". 1972 Yes Template:Sfn
Frankenstein '80 Yes Template:Sfn
Tragic Ceremony Yes Template:Sfn
Flesh for Frankenstein 1973 Yes Template:Sfn
Script error: No such module "sort". 1974 Yes Template:Sfn
Blood for Dracula Yes [12]
Deep Red 1975 Yes [13][14]
King Kong 1976 Yes Kong design and engineering [15]
Script error: No such module "sort". 1977 Yes Consultant on buffalo sequences [16]
Close Encounters of the Third Kind Yes Realization of "extraterrestrial" [17]
Alien 1979 Yes 'Alien' head effect [18]
Nightwing Yes Special visual effects [19]
The Hand 1981 Yes Special visual effects [20]
Possession 1981 Yes [21]
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial 1982 Yes Creator of E.T. [22]
Conan the Destroyer 1984 Yes Creator of Dagoth [23]
Dune Yes Creature creator [24]
Cat's Eye 1985 Yes Creature creator [25]
Silver Bullet Yes Creature creator [26]

Academy Awards

One Special Achievement Academy Award

Two Academy Awards for Best Visual Effects

Other awards

Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards

  • 1982: Special Award, "for the body of his work"

Saturn Awards

MystFest Awards

  • 1985: Special Award, "for his whole activities"[note 1]

Los Angeles Italian Film Awards

  • 2000: Outstanding Achievement Award for Best Special Effects

David di Donatello Awards

  • 2002: Special David Award

Notes

  1. ↑ MystFest is the commonly used abbreviation for the "International Mystery Film Festival of Cattolica", in Italian "Festival internazionale del giallo e del mistero di Cattolica"

References

Footnotes

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  1. ↑ 49th Academy Awards (Monday, March 28, 1977), official lists of winners and nominees in the Oscars.org website
  2. ↑ 52nd Academy Awards (Monday, April 14, 1980), official lists of winners and nominees in the Oscars.org website
  3. ↑ 55th Academy Awards (Monday, April 11, 1983), official lists of winners and nominees in the Oscars.org website
  4. ↑ a b Template:In lang Assante, Ernesto (August 10, 2012). "Addio a Carlo Rambaldi il creatore di E.T. e Alien". la Repubblica
  5. ↑ a b c d e "Obituaries: Carlo Rambaldi". The Daily Telegraph. October 5, 2012
  6. ↑ Wickman, Forrest (August 13, 2012). "R.I.P. Carlo Rambaldi, Creator of E.T." Slate.
  7. ↑ Davis, Lauren (October 28, 2012). "5 horror movies so gruesome, the makers were investigated for cruelty and murder". io9.
  8. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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  10. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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  24. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  25. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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Sources

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External links

Template:Academy Award Best Visual Effects Template:Saturn Award for Best Special Effects Template:Special Achievement Academy Award Template:Authority control

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