Carlo Rambaldi, the three-time Academy Award-winning Italian-born visual effects artist responsible for creating the alien E.T. in Steven Spielberg’s E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, died today in Lamezia Terme, Italy after a long illness, according to the Washington Post. He was 86 years old.

Born on September 15, 1925 in Vigarano Mainarda, Emilia-Romagna, Italy, Rambaldi got his start in the Italian film industry providing visual effects for films such as Bloody Pit of Horror and Mario Bava’s highly influential sci-fi chiller Planet of the Vampires. He would later reunite with Bava to execute the gory murder sequences for one of the acclaimed filmmaker’s finest films, Twitch of the Death Nerve (a.k.a. A Bay of Blood). In 1971, Rambaldi’s mutilated dog effects for Lucio Fulci’s psychedelic giallo Lizard in a Woman’s Skin were deemed so realistic that the director was prosecuted in Italian court on charges of animal cruelty. Only after Rambaldi presented the fake dog effects in court was Fulci exonerated.

About a month ago, we were informed that Stargate: Atlantis star Jason Momoa would be taking on the title role in Marcus Nispel‘s new reboot, Conan. That same day, Latino Review also had a little inside scoop that none other than Mickey Rourke was offered the role of Conan’s father, Corin (Read: Jason Momoa Is Marcus Nispel’s New Conan The Barbarian; Mickey Rourke To Play His Father?).

This scoop has proven to be very much legit, and it has now been confirmed that Rourke is currently in negotiations to take on the role. When the movie comes together, it will follow the barbarian Conan as he sets off on a quest to find those responsible for the slaughtering of his people. The role was first made famous in 1982 by Arnold Schwarzenegger in the movie Conan the Barbarian, and then once again in 1984’s Conan the Destroyer.