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Carlo Rambaldi

{{Short description|Italian special effects artist (1925–2012)}}

{{For|the Italian painter of the Baroque period|Carlo Antonio Rambaldi}}

{{use mdy dates|cs1-dates=ly|date=February 2022}}

{{Infobox person

|honorific_prefix =

|name = Carlo Rambaldi

|honorific_suffix =

|image = Carlo Rambaldi al Giffoni Film Festival 2010 - cropped.jpg

|image_size =

|alt =

|caption = Carlo Rambaldi in 2010

|birth_name =

|birth_date = {{birth date|1925|9|15}}

|birth_place = Vigarano Mainarda, Emilia-Romagna, Italy

|death_date = {{death date and age|2012|8|10|1925|9|15}}

|death_place = Lamezia Terme, Calabria, Italy

|death_cause =

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|nationality =

|other_names =

|citizenship = Italy

|education = Academy of Fine Arts of Bologna[http://www.hkbu.edu.hk/~intl/factsheet/Bologna_Art.pdf Studying art at the Fine Arts Academy of Bologna] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120402034934/http://www.hkbu.edu.hk/~intl/factsheet/Bologna_Art.pdf |date=2012-04-02 }}

|alma_mater =

|occupation = Special effects artist, makeup artist

|years_active = 1963-2006

|known_for =

|notable_works = King Kong (1976)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
Alien (1979)
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

|style =

|spouse = Bruna Basso

|partner =

|children = Vittorio
Daniela{{Cite web|url=http://www.repubblica.it/spettacoli-e-cultura/2012/08/10/news/carlo_rambaldi-40727583/|title = Addio a Carlo Rambaldiil creatore di E.T. E Alien|date = 10 August 2012}}

|parents =

|relatives =

|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)

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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[http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1977 49th 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, Alien[http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1980 52nd Academy Awards (Monday, April 14, 1980)], official lists of winners and nominees in the Oscars.org website (1979) and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial[http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1983 55th 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.{{in lang|it}} Assante, Ernesto (August 10, 2012). [http://www.repubblica.it/spettacoli-e-cultura/2012/08/10/news/carlo_rambaldi-40727583/ "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.[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/9590601/Carlo-Rambaldi.html "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). [http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2012/08/13/carlo_rambaldi_r_i_p_what_david_lynch_got_right_about_the_creator_of_e_t_.html "R.I.P. Carlo Rambaldi, Creator of E.T."] Slate.Davis, Lauren (October 28, 2012). [http://io9.com/5955517/5-horror-movies-so-gruesome-the-makers-were-investigated-for-cruelty-and-murder "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.{{cite web|title=Addio a Carlo Rambaldi il creatore di E.T. e Alien|url=http://www.repubblica.it/spettacoli-e-cultura/2012/08/10/news/carlo_rambaldi-40727583/|website=repubblica.it|date=10 August 2012|access-date=3 June 2017}} Another son, Alessandro, died of a rare form of leukemia at 33 years of age.{{cite web|title=Carlo Rambaldi sarà cremato e sepolto a Vigarano Mainarda|url=http://www.ilrestodelcarlino.it/ferrara/provincia/2012/08/11/757319-carlo-rambaldi-cremazione-vigarano-mainarda.shtml|website=www.ilrestodelcarlino.it|date=August 11, 2012 |access-date=3 June 2017}}

Rambaldi died after a long illness{{cite news|title=ET and Alien special effects artist Carlo Rambaldi dies|work=BBC News|date=10 August 2012|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-19219081|access-date=3 June 2017}} 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.{{cite web|last1=Agi|first1=Fonte|title=Carlo Rambaldi sarà cremato e sepolto a Vigarano Mainarda|url=http://www.ilrestodelcarlino.it/ferrara/provincia/2012/08/11/757319-carlo-rambaldi-cremazione-vigarano-mainarda.shtml|website=www.ilrestodelcarlino.it|date=August 11, 2012 |access-date=3 June 2017}}

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

Select filmography

class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"

! width="15%" rowspan="2" scope="col" | Title !! width="4%" rowspan="2" scope="col" | Year!! colspan="2" scope="col" | Credited as !! width="10%" rowspan="2" scope="col" class="unsortable"| Notes !! width="1%" rowspan="2" scope="col" class="unsortable" |{{abbr|Ref(s)|Reference(s)}}

width=12% |Special effectswidth=12% | Other
scope="row"|Dragon's Blood

|1957

| {{yes}}

|

| Dragon creator

|style="text-align:center;"|{{sfn|Kinnard|Crnkovich|2017|p=49}}

scope="row"|Goliath and the Dragon

|rowspan="2"|1960

|

| {{yes}}

| Special make-up effects

|style="text-align:center;"|{{sfn|Kinnard|Crnkovich|2017|p=70}}

scope="row"|{{sort|Giants of Thessaly|The Giants of Thessaly}}

| {{yes}}

|

|

|style="text-align:center;"|{{sfn|Curti|2017a|pp=315–316}}

scope="row"|Fire Monsters Against the Son of Hercules

|1962

| {{yes}}

|

|

|style="text-align:center;"|{{sfn|Kinnard|Crnkovich|2017|pp=57–58}}

scope="row"|Medusa Against the Son of Hercules

|1963

| {{yes}}

|

|

|style="text-align:center;"|{{sfn|Kinnard|Crnkovich|2017|pp=115–116}}

scope="row"|Bloody Pit of Horror

|1965

| {{yes}}

|

|

|style="text-align:center;"|{{sfn|Curti|2017b|pp=137–138}}

scope="row"|Danger: Diabolik

|1968

|

| {{yes}}

| Set designer

|style="text-align:center;"|{{sfn|Celli|Cottino-Jones|2007|p=106}}{{sfn|Curti|2016|p=104}}

scope="row"|Lady Frankenstein

|1971

| {{yes}}

|

|

|style="text-align:center;"|{{sfn|Curti|2017a|p=32}}

scope="row"|{{sort|Night of the Devils|The Night of the Devils}}

|rowspan="3"|1972

| {{yes}}

|

|

|style="text-align:center;"|{{sfn|Curti|2017a|p=74}}

scope="row"|Frankenstein '80

| {{yes}}

|

|

|style="text-align:center;"|{{sfn|Curti|2017a|p=69}}

scope="row"|Tragic Ceremony

| {{yes}}

|

|

|style="text-align:center;"|{{sfn|Curti|2017a|p=327}}

scope="row"|Flesh for Frankenstein

|1973

| {{yes}}

|

|

|style="text-align:center;"|{{sfn|Curti|2017a|p=80}}

scope="row"|{{sort|Hand That Feeds the Dead|The Hand That Feeds the Dead}}

|rowspan="2"|1974

| {{yes}}

|

|

|style="text-align:center;"|{{sfn|Curti|2017b|pp=124–125}}

scope="row"|Blood for Dracula

| {{yes}}

|

|

|style="text-align:center;"|{{cite web|url=http://afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=67628|publisher=American Film Institute|title=Andy Warhol's Frankenstein|access-date=12 September 2017}}

scope="row"|Deep Red

|1975

| {{yes}}

|

|

|style="text-align:center;"|{{cite book|title=Art of Darkness: The Cinema of Dario Argento|page=279|last=Gallant|first=Chris|year=2000|isbn=1903254078|publisher=Fab Press}}{{cite web|url=http://cinema.encyclopedie.films.bifi.fr/index.php?pk=57670|publisher=Bifi.fr|title=Profondo rosso|language=fr|access-date=29 June 2018}}

scope="row"|King Kong

|1976

| {{yes}}

|

|Kong design and engineering

|style="text-align:center;"|{{cite web|url=http://afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=55860|publisher=American Film Institute|title=King Kong|access-date=12 September 2017}}

scope="row"|{{sort|White Buffalo|The White Buffalo}}

|rowspan="2"|1977

|

| {{yes}}

|Consultant on buffalo sequences

|style="text-align:center;"|{{cite web|url=http://afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=67646|publisher=American Film Institute|title=The White Buffalo|access-date=12 September 2017}}

scope="row"|Close Encounters of the Third Kind

| {{yes}}

|

|Realization of "extraterrestrial"

|style="text-align:center;"|{{cite web|url=http://afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=67160|publisher=American Film Institute|title=Close Encounters of the Third Kind|access-date=12 September 2017}}

scope="row"|Alien

|rowspan="2"|1979

| {{yes}}

|

|'Alien' head effect

|style="text-align:center;"|{{cite web|url=http://afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=53908|publisher=American Film Institute|title=Alien|access-date=12 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906013116/http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=53908|archive-date=6 September 2015|url-status=dead}}

scope="row"|Nightwing

| {{yes}}

|

|Special visual effects

|style="text-align:center;"|{{cite web|url=http://afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=56937|publisher=American Film Institute|title=Nightwing|access-date=12 September 2017}}

scope="row"|The Hand

|1981

| {{yes}}

|

|Special visual effects

|style="text-align:center;"|{{cite web|url=http://afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=56629|publisher=American Film Institute|title=The Hand|access-date=12 September 2017}}

scope="row"|Possession

|1981

| {{Yes}}

|

|

|style="text-align:center;"|{{cite web|title=Possession (1981) |website=IMDb |url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082933/fullcredits|access-date=2021-10-01}}

scope="row"|E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

|1982

| {{yes}}

|

|Creator of E.T.

|style="text-align:center;"|{{cite web|url=http://afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=67140|publisher=American Film Institute|title=E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial|access-date=12 September 2017}}

scope="row"|Conan the Destroyer

|rowspan="2"|1984

| {{yes}}

|

|Creator of Dagoth

|style="text-align:center;"|{{cite web|url=http://afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=57064|publisher=American Film Institute|title=Conan the Destroyer|access-date=12 September 2017}}

scope="row"|Dune

| {{yes}}

|

|Creature creator

|style="text-align:center;"|{{cite web|url=http://afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=67647|publisher=American Film Institute|title=Dune|access-date=12 September 2017}}

scope="row"|Cat's Eye

|rowspan="2"|1985

| {{yes}}

|

|Creature creator

|style="text-align:center;"|{{cite web|url=http://afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=57356|publisher=American Film Institute|title=Stephen King's Cat's Eye|access-date=12 September 2017}}

scope="row"|Silver Bullet

| {{yes}}

|

|Creature creator

|style="text-align:center;"|{{cite web|url=http://afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=58367|publisher=American Film Institute|title=Silver Bullet|access-date=12 September 2017}}

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"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

Notes

References

=Footnotes=

{{reflist}}

=Sources=

{{Refbegin}}

  • {{cite book |last1=Celli |first1=C. |last2=Cottino-Jones |first2=M. C |title=A New Guide to Italian Cinema |publisher=Springer |date=2007 |isbn=978-0-230-60182-6 }}
  • {{cite book

|last=Curti

|first=Roberto

|title=Italian Gothic Horror Films, 1957-1969

|publisher=McFarland

|isbn=978-1476619897

|year=2015

}}

  • {{cite book |last=Curti |first=Roberto |title=Diabolika: Supercriminals, Superheroes and the Comic Book Universe in Italian Cinema |publisher=Midnight Marquee Press |date=2016 |isbn=978-1-936168-60-6 }}
  • {{cite book|last=Curti|first=Roberto|title=Riccardo Freda: The Life and Works of a Born Filmmaker|publisher=McFarland|isbn= 978-1-4766-6970-0|year=2017a}}
  • {{cite book

|last=Curti

|first=Roberto

|title=Italian Gothic Horror Films, 1970-1979

|publisher=McFarland

|isbn=978-1476629605

|year=2017b

}}

  • {{cite book

|last1=Kinnard

|first1=Roy

|last2=Crnkovich

|first2=Tony

|title=Italian Sword and Sandal Films, 1908-1990

|publisher=McFarland

|isbn=978-1476662916

|year=2017

}}

{{Refend}}

External links

  • {{IMDb name|id=0708058}}

{{Academy Award Best Visual Effects}}

{{Saturn Award for Best Special Effects}}

{{Special Achievement Academy Award}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rambaldi, Carlo}}

Category:1925 births

Category:2012 deaths

Category:People from the Province of Ferrara

Category:People from Lamezia Terme

Category:David di Donatello Career Award winners

Category:Special Achievement Academy Award winners

Category:Best Visual Effects Academy Award winners

Category:Accademia di Belle Arti di Bologna alumni

Category:Italian visual effects artists