Original Alien animatronic creator Carlo Rambaldi dies, aged 86

Animatronics pioneer Carlo Rambaldi has died at the age of 86, after a long illness.

Rambaldi, who was born in north-east Italy attended Bologna’s Fine Arts academy, before entering Italy’s film industry. Uber-producer Dino De Laurentiis who spotted Rambaldi’s talent and employed him to work on his remake of King Kong. While the movie was a failure, Rambaldi won an Oscar for his work, and and was soon part of Hollywood effects royalty.

He is perhaps best know for his work on Steven Spielberg’s ET, but for real fans of sci-fi and horror, Rambaldi’s name will be forever linked with the first Alien movie. While HR Giger’s designs broke new ground in creature design, it was Rambaldi’s animatronics that brought the creature’s face to horrible, disturbing life, again winning him an Oscar.