Raymond Cusick, the designer of the original Daleks, has passed away aged 84 of heart failure on February the 21st. Nearly 50 years ago, he found the iconic shape for Terry Nation's villains, the Daleks -- which made their first appearence in the very second episode of the long-spanning series, and are still the most memorable villains in Doctor Who.
[A bit late, but I did not have access to my blog until now]. Two days ago, on August the 10th, a legend of monster making passed away: Carlo Rambaldi died in his home at Lamezia Terme (Catanzaro), Italy, where he moved about 10 years ago.
The Maestro's track record includes many memorable creatures, e.g. E.T. The Extraterrestrial (pictured above), the animatronic head mechanisms for Alien, John Guillermin's King Kong (he won an Oscar for all three), the Sandworms from Dune and the aliens from Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
The head of Giger's iconic Design was mechanized by Rambaldi and his team.
Among his creations are also many monsters from italian genre films, like the 1968 Odyssey miniseries and Hercules and the Princess of Troy -- with the unforgettable sea cicada beast. The start of his brilliant career actually fares back to 1957, when he built -- at the last moment, mind you -- a full size Dragon creature for Giacomo Gentilomo's Sigurd, which you can see below.
