Carlo Rambaldi
Italian special effects artist (1925–2012)
Carlo Rambaldi
Carlo Rambaldi in 2010
Born (1925-09-15 ) September 15, 1925Died August 10, 2012(2012-08-10) (aged 86) Citizenship Italy Education Academy of Fine Arts of Bologna [ 1] Occupation(s) Special effects artist, makeup artist Years active 1963-2006[ 1] Notable work King Kong (1976)Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)Alien (1979)E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)Spouse Bruna Basso[ 2] Children Vittorio[ 2] Daniela[ 3] Awards 3 Oscars Academy Awards Special Achievement Award Saturn Award BAFTA Film Award (nominated) David di Donatello Special Los Angeles Film Critics Association Special Los Angeles Italian Film Awards Outstanding Achievement Award Mystfest Special Razzie Award (nominated)
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 [ 4] and two Academy Awards for Best Visual Effects in 1980 and 1983 for, respectively, Alien [ 5] (1979) and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial [ 6] (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 .[ 7] 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 .[ 2]
Career
Rambaldi's first work in film was creating a fire-breathing dragon for the 1957 Italian picture Sigfrido [ 2] (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 .[ 2] 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.[ 8] [ 9]
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."[ 2]
Personal life and death
Carlo Rambaldi married Bruna Basso, with whom he had a son, Vittorio, and a daughter, Daniela.[ 10] [ 2] Another son, Alessandro, died of a rare form of leukemia at 33 years of age.[ 11]
Rambaldi died after a long illness[ 12] on August 10, 2012, in Lamezia Terme , Calabria , where he had lived for the last decade of his life,[ 7] after relocating to be near his daughter and grandchildren.[ 13]
His ashes were laid to rest in the family tomb in Vigarano Mainarda, near his son Alessandro.[ 13]
Select filmography
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
^ 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
^ a b Studying art at the Fine Arts Academy of Bologna Archived 2012-04-02 at the Wayback Machine
^ a b c d e f g "Obituaries: Carlo Rambaldi" . The Daily Telegraph . October 5, 2012
^ "Addio a Carlo Rambaldiil creatore di E.T. E Alien" . August 10, 2012.
^ 49th Academy Awards (Monday, March 28, 1977) , official lists of winners and nominees in the Oscars.org website
^ 52nd Academy Awards (Monday, April 14, 1980) , official lists of winners and nominees in the Oscars.org website
^ 55th Academy Awards (Monday, April 11, 1983) , official lists of winners and nominees in the Oscars.org website
^ a b (in Italian) Assante, Ernesto (August 10, 2012). "Addio a Carlo Rambaldi il creatore di E.T. e Alien" . la Repubblica
^ 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 .
^ "Addio a Carlo Rambaldi il creatore di E.T. e Alien" . republicca.it . August 10, 2012. Retrieved 2017-06-03 .
^ "Carlo Rambaldi sarà cremato e sepolto a Vigarano Mainarda" . www.ilrestodelcarlino.it . August 11, 2012. Retrieved 2017-06-03 .
^ "ET and Alien special effects artist Carlo Rambaldi dies" . BBC News . August 10, 2012. Retrieved 2017-06-03 .
^ a b Agi, Fonte (August 11, 2012). "Carlo Rambaldi sarà cremato e sepolto a Vigarano Mainarda" . www.ilrestodelcarlino.it . Retrieved 2017-06-03 .
^ "Andy Warhol's Frankenstein" . American Film Institute. Retrieved 2017-09-12 .
^ Gallant, Chris (2000). Art of Darkness: The Cinema of Dario Argento . Fab Press. p. 279. ISBN 1903254078 .
^ "Profondo rosso" (in French). Bifi.fr. Retrieved 2018-06-29 .
^ "King Kong" . American Film Institute. Retrieved 2017-09-12 .
^ "The White Buffalo" . American Film Institute. Retrieved 2017-09-12 .
^ "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" . American Film Institute. Retrieved 2017-09-12 .
^ "Alien" . American Film Institute. Archived from the original on 2015-09-06. Retrieved 2017-09-12 .
^ "Nightwing" . American Film Institute. Retrieved 2017-09-12 .
^ "The Hand" . American Film Institute. Retrieved 2017-09-12 .
^ "Possession (1981)" . IMDb . Retrieved 2021-10-01 .
^ "E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial" . American Film Institute. Retrieved 2017-09-12 .
^ "Conan the Destroyer" . American Film Institute. Retrieved 2017-09-12 .
^ "Dune" . American Film Institute. Retrieved 2017-09-12 .
^ "Stephen King's Cat's Eye" . American Film Institute. Retrieved 2017-09-12 .
^ "Silver Bullet" . American Film Institute. Retrieved 2017-09-12 .
Sources
Celli, C.; Cottino-Jones, M. C (2007). A New Guide to Italian Cinema . Springer. ISBN 978-0-230-60182-6 .
Curti, Roberto (2015). Italian Gothic Horror Films, 1957-1969 . McFarland. ISBN 978-1476619897 .
Curti, Roberto (2016). Diabolika: Supercriminals, Superheroes and the Comic Book Universe in Italian Cinema . Midnight Marquee Press. ISBN 978-1-936168-60-6 .
Curti, Roberto (2017a). Riccardo Freda: The Life and Works of a Born Filmmaker . McFarland. ISBN 978-1-4766-6970-0 .
Curti, Roberto (2017b). Italian Gothic Horror Films, 1970-1979 . McFarland . ISBN 978-1476629605 .
Kinnard, Roy; Crnkovich, Tony (2017). Italian Sword and Sandal Films, 1908-1990 . McFarland. ISBN 978-1476662916 .
External links
1963–1980
Emil Kosa Jr. – Cleopatra (1963)
Peter Ellenshaw , Eustace Lycett , and Hamilton Luske – Mary Poppins (1964)
John Stears – Thunderball (1965)
Art Cruickshank – Fantastic Voyage (1966)
L. B. Abbott – Doctor Dolittle (1967)
Stanley Kubrick – 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Robie Robertson – Marooned (1969)
A. D. Flowers and L. B. Abbott – Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970)
Alan Maley , Eustace Lycett , and Danny Lee – Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971)
L. B. Abbott and A. D. Flowers – The Poseidon Adventure (1972)
Frank Brendel , Glen Robinson , and Albert Whitlock – Earthquake (1974)
Albert Whitlock and Glen Robinson – The Hindenburg (1975)
Carlo Rambaldi , Glen Robinson , and Frank Van der Veer – King Kong (1976)
John Stears , John Dykstra , Richard Edlund , Grant McCune , and Robert Blalack – Star Wars (1977)
Les Bowie , Colin Chilvers , Denys Coop , Roy Field , Derek Meddings , and Zoran Perisic – Superman (1978)
H. R. Giger , Carlo Rambaldi , Brian Johnson , Nick Allder , and Dennis Ayling – Alien (1979)
Brian Johnson , Richard Edlund , Dennis Muren , and Bruce Nicholson – The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
1981–2000
Richard Edlund , Kit West , Bruce Nicholson , and Joe Johnston – Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Carlo Rambaldi , Dennis Muren , and Kenneth F. Smith – E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
Richard Edlund , Dennis Muren , Ken Ralston , and Phil Tippett – Return of the Jedi (1983)
Dennis Muren , Michael J. McAlister , Lorne Peterson , and George Gibbs – Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)
Ken Ralston , Ralph McQuarrie , Scott Farrar , and David Berry – Cocoon (1985)
Robert Skotak , Stan Winston , John Richardson , and Suzanne M. Benson – Aliens (1986)
Dennis Muren , Bill George , Harley Jessup , and Kenneth F. Smith - Innerspace (1987)
Ken Ralston , Richard Williams , Edward Jones , and George Gibbs – Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
John Bruno , Dennis Muren , Hoyt Yeatman , and Dennis Skotak – The Abyss (1989)
Eric Brevig , Rob Bottin , Tim McGovern , and Alex Funke – Total Recall (1990)
Dennis Muren , Stan Winston , Gene Warren Jr. , and Robert Skotak – Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
Ken Ralston , Doug Chiang , Douglas Smythe , and Tom Woodruff Jr. – Death Becomes Her (1992)
Dennis Muren , Stan Winston , Phil Tippett , and Michael Lantieri – Jurassic Park (1993)
Ken Ralston , George Murphy , Stephen Rosenbaum , and Allen Hall – Forrest Gump (1994)
Scott E. Anderson , Charles Gibson , Neal Scanlan , and John Cox – Babe (1995)
Volker Engel , Douglas Smith , Clay Pinney , and Joe Viskocil – Independence Day (1996)
Robert Legato , Mark Lasoff , Thomas L. Fisher , and Michael Kanfer – Titanic (1997)
Joel Hynek , Nicholas Brooks , Stuart Robertson , and Kevin Mack – What Dreams May Come (1998)
John Gaeta , Janek Sirrs , Steve Courtley , and Jon Thum – The Matrix (1999)
John Nelson , Neil Corbould , Tim Burke , and Rob Harvey – Gladiator (2000)
2001–2020
Jim Rygiel , Randall William Cook , Richard Taylor , and Mark Stetson – The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
Jim Rygiel , Joe Letteri , Randall William Cook , and Alex Funke – The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
Jim Rygiel , Joe Letteri , Randall William Cook , and Alex Funke – The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
John Dykstra , Scott Stokdyk , Anthony LaMolinara , and John Frazier – Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Joe Letteri , Brian Van't Hul , Christian Rivers , and Richard Taylor – King Kong (2005)
John Knoll , Hal Hickel , Charles Gibson , and Allen Hall – Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006)
Michael L. Fink , Bill Westenhofer , Ben Morris , and Trevor Wood – The Golden Compass (2007)
Eric Barba , Steve Preeg , Burt Dalton , and Craig Barron – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
Joe Letteri , Stephen Rosenbaum , Richard Baneham , and Andrew R. Jones – Avatar (2009)
Paul Franklin , Chris Corbould , Andrew Lockley , and Peter Bebb – Inception (2010)
Robert Legato , Joss Williams , Ben Grossmann , and Alex Henning – Hugo (2011)
Bill Westenhofer , Guillaume Rocheron , Erik-Jan de Boer , and Donald R. Elliott – Life of Pi (2012)
Tim Webber , Chris Lawrence , Dave Shirk , and Neil Corbould – Gravity (2013)
Paul Franklin , Andrew Lockley , Ian Hunter , and Scott R. Fisher – Interstellar (2014)
Mark Williams Ardington , Sara Bennett , Paul Norris , and Andrew Whitehurst – Ex Machina (2015)
Robert Legato , Adam Valdez , Andrew R. Jones , and Dan Lemmon – The Jungle Book (2016)
John Nelson , Gerd Nefzer , Paul Lambert , and Richard R. Hoover – Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
Paul Lambert , Ian Hunter , Tristan Myles , and J. D. Schwalm – First Man (2018)
Guillaume Rocheron , Greg Butler , and Dominic Tuohy – 1917 (2019)
Andrew Jackson , David Lee , Andrew Lockley , and Scott R. Fisher – Tenet (2020)
2021–present
1970s 1980s 1990s
Stan Winston (1991)
Ken Ralston , Tom Woodruff Jr., and Alec Gillis (1992)
Dennis Muren , Stan Winston , Phil Tippett , and Michael Lantieri (1993)
John Bruno (1994)
Stan Parks (1995)
Volker Engel , Clay Pinney , Douglas Smith , and Joe Viskocil (1996)
Phil Tippett , Scott E. Anderson , Alec Gillis, Tom Woodruff Jr., John Richardson (1997)
Volker Engel , Patrick Tatopoulos , Karen E. Goulekas , and Clay Pinney (1998)
Rob Coleman , John Knoll , Dennis Muren , and Scott Squires (1999)
2000s
Scott E. Anderson , Craig Hayes , Scott Stokdyk , and Stan Parks (2000)
Dennis Muren , Scott Farrar , Stan Winston , Michael Lantieri (2001)
Rob Coleman , Pablo Helman , John Knoll , and Ben Snow (2002)
Jim Rygiel , Joe Letteri , Randall William Cook , and Alex Funke (2003)
John Dykstra , Scott Stokdyk , Anthony LaMolinara , and John Frazier (2004)
Joe Letteri , Richard Taylor , Christian Rivers , and Brian Van't Hul (2005)
John Knoll , Hal T. Hickel , Charles Gibson , and Allen Hall (2006)
Scott Farrar , Scott Benza , Russell Earl , and John Frazier (2007)
Nick Davis , Chris Corbould , Timothy Webber , and Paul J. Franklin (2008)
Joe Letteri , Stephen Rosenbaum , Richard Baneham , and Andrew R. Jones (2009)
2010s
Chris Corbould , Andrew Lockley , Paul J. Franklin , and Peter Bebb (2010)
Dan Lemmon , Joe Letteri , R. Christopher White , and Daniel Barrett (2011)
Janek Sirrs , Jeff White , Guy Williams , and Dan Sudick (2012)
Tim Webber , Chris Lawrence , Dave Shirk , and Neil Corbould (2013)
Paul J. Franklin , Andrew Lockley , Ian Hunter , and Scott R. Fisher (2014)
Roger Guyett , Patrick Tubach , Neal Scanlan , and Chris Corbould (2015)
John Knoll , Mohen Leo , Hal Hickel , and Neil Corbould (2016)
Christopher Townsend , Guy Williams , Jonathan Fawkner , and Dan Sudick (2017)
Dan DeLeeuw , Matt Aitken , Russell Earl , and Dan Sudick (2018/19)
Roger Guyett , Neal Scanlan , Patrick Tubach , and Dominic Tuohy (2019/20)
2020s Note: The years are listed as per convention, usually the year of film release; the ceremonies are usually held the next year.
L. B. Abbott , A. D. Flowers (1972)
Frank Brendel , Glen Robinson , Albert Whitlock (1974)
Peter Berkos / Albert Whitlock , Glen Robinson (1975)
Carlo Rambaldi , Glen Robinson , Frank Van der Veer / L. B. Abbott , Glen Robinson , Matthew Yuricich (1976)
Ben Burtt / Frank Warner (1977)
Les Bowie , Colin Chilvers , Denys Coop , Roy Field , Derek Meddings , Zoran Perisic (1978)
Alan Splet (1979)
Brian Johnson , Richard Edlund , Dennis Muren , Bruce Nicholson (1980)
Ben Burtt , Richard L. Anderson (1981)
Richard Edlund , Dennis Muren , Ken Ralston , Phil Tippett (1983)
Kay Rose (1984)
Stephen Hunter Flick , John Pospisil (1987)
Richard Williams (1988)
Eric Brevig , Rob Bottin , Tim McGovern , Alex Funke (1990)
John Lasseter (1995)
Alejandro González Iñárritu (2017)
International National Artists People