1. Ralph Angus McQuarrie was an American conceptual designer who worked in film and television.
16 Facts About Ralph McQuarrie
1. 2.
Ralph McQuarrie was born on June 13,1929, in Gary, Indiana, and was raised on a farm near Billings, Montana.
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Ralph McQuarrie served in the United States Army during the Korean War, surviving a shot to the head.
4.
Ralph McQuarrie initially worked for a dentistry firm, illustrating teeth and equipment, before working as an Artist and Preliminary Design Illustrator for the Boeing Company, where he drew diagrams for a manual on constructing the 747 Jumbo Jet, as well as designing film posters and animating CBS News' coverage of the Apollo space program at the three-man company Reel Three.
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Ralph McQuarrie designed many of the film's characters, including Darth Vader, Chewbacca, R2-D2 and C-3PO and drew many concepts for the film's sets.
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Ralph McQuarrie's production painting of R2-D2 and C-3PO wandering in the desert on the planet Tatooine was the first to be completed.
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The painting had a particular impact on actor Anthony Daniels, who was about to turn down the part of C-3PO; "He had painted a face and a figure that had a very wistful, rather yearning, rather bereft quality, which I found very appealing," stated Daniels, and the appeal of Ralph McQuarrie's image convinced him to accept the role.
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At Lucas' suggestion, Ralph McQuarrie designed a breathing apparatus for Darth Vader to wear.
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Lucas agreed, and Ralph McQuarrie combined a full-face breathing mask with a samurai helmet, thus creating one of the most iconic designs of space fantasy cinema.
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Around the time that Ralph McQuarrie was completing his work on Star Wars, he was brought on board the design team for a planned cinematic production based on Gene Roddenberry's science fiction television series, Star Trek.
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When Lucas began work on his sequel to Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, Ralph McQuarrie was brought in to supply previsualization artwork.
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Ralph McQuarrie made an uncredited cameo appearance in The Empire Strikes Back, when he appeared in the film's opening sequence in the Rebel base on Hoth as a character named General Pharl Ralph McQuarrie.
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In 2007, Ralph McQuarrie became part of the Star Wars action figure range when an action figure in his likeness as "General Ralph McQuarrie" was produced for the Star Wars 30th anniversary in 2007.
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Ralph McQuarrie worked on the 1978 TV series Battlestar Galactica, and the films Raiders of the Lost Ark, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home and *batteries not included.
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Ralph McQuarrie retired and his Star Wars concept paintings were subsequently displayed in art exhibitions, including the 1999 Star Wars: The Magic of Myth.
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Ralph McQuarrie married Joan Benjamin in 1983 and stayed married until his death at age 82 on March 3,2012, in his Berkeley, CA home.