Carlo Rambaldi 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 and two Academy Awards for Best Visual Effects in 1980 and 1983 for, respectively,
Alien (1979) and
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (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.