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 Kong49th Academy Awards (Monday, March 28, 1977), official lists of winners and nominees in the Oscars.org website and two Academy Awards for Best Visual Effects in 1980 and 1983 for, respectively, Alien52nd Academy Awards (Monday, April 14, 1980), official lists of winners and nominees in the Oscars.org website (1979) and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial55th Academy Awards (Monday, April 11, 1983), official lists of winners and nominees in the Oscars.org website (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. Assante, Ernesto (August 10, 2012). "Addio a Carlo Rambaldi il creatore di E.T. e Alien". la Repubblica 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."Obituaries: Carlo Rambaldi". The Daily Telegraph. October 5, 2012
Career Rambaldi's first work in film was creating a fire-breathing dragon for the 1957 Italian picture Sigfrido (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. 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.Wickman, Forrest (August 13, 2012). "R.I.P. Carlo Rambaldi, Creator of E.T." Slate.Davis, Lauren (October 28, 2012). "5 horror movies so gruesome, the makers were investigated for cruelty and murder". io9.
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."
Personal life and death Carlo Rambaldi married Bruna Basso, with whom he had a son, Vittorio, and a daughter, Daniela. Another son, Alessandro, died of a rare form of leukemia at 33 years of age.
Rambaldi died after a long illness on August 10, 2012, in Lamezia Terme, Calabria, where he had lived for the last decade of his life, after relocating to be near his daughter and grandchildren.
His ashes were laid to rest in the family tomb in Vigarano Mainarda, near his son Alessandro.
Select filmography Title Year Credited as Notes Special effects OtherDragon's Blood1957 Dragon creatorGoliath and the Dragon1960 Special make-up effects Fire Monsters Against the Son of Hercules1962 Medusa Against the Son of Hercules1963 Bloody Pit of Horror1965 Danger: Diabolik1968 Set designer and mask makerLady Frankenstein1971 1972 Frankenstein '80 Tragic Ceremony Flesh for Frankenstein1973 1974 Blood for Dracula Deep Red1975 King Kong1976 Kong design and engineering1977 Consultant on buffalo sequencesClose Encounters of the Third Kind Realization of "extraterrestrial"Alien1979 'Alien' head effectNightwing Special visual effectsThe Hand1981 Special visual effectsPossession1981 E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial1982 Creator of E.T.Conan the Destroyer1984 Creator of DagothDune Creature creatorCat's Eye1985 Creature creatorSilver Bullet Creature creator
Academy Awards One Special Achievement Academy Award 1977 (49th): for Best Visual Effects for King Kong (1976), shared with Glen Robinson and Frank Van der Veer
Two Academy Awards for Best Visual Effects 1980 (52nd): for Best Visual Effects for Alien (1979), shared with H. R. Giger, Brian Johnson, Nick Allder, and Dennis Ayling 1983 (55th): for Best Visual Effects for E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), shared with Dennis Muren and Kenneth F. Smith
Other awards Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards 1982: Special Award, "for the body of his work"
Saturn Awards 1983: for Best Special Effects for E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), shared with Dennis Muren
MystFest Awards 1985: Special Award, "for his whole activities"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"
Los Angeles Italian Film Awards 2000: Outstanding Achievement Award for Best Special Effects
David di Donatello Awards 2002: Special David Award
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