Ralph McQuarrie
March 5, 2012
Patent News and Interesting Facts

Image source: ralphmcquarrie.com/
Ralph Angus McQuarrie was born on 13 June 1929 in Gary, Indiana and moved to California in the 1960s were he designed film posters and CBS News coverage animations of the Apollo space program.
Ralph McQuarrie became a conceptual designer and illustrator who designed many of the Star Wars characters, including Darth Vader, Chewbacca, R2-D2 and C-3PO. He also worked as the conceptual designer on the film’s two sequels The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.
Ralph McQuarrie also designed the alien ships in Steven Spielberg’s films Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and the 1985 film Cocoon which earned him the Academy Award for Visual Effects.
Ralph McQuarrie also worked on Battlestar Galactica, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home and Jurassic Park.

Ralph McQuarrie Filmography:
Back to the Future: The Ride – conceptual artist
Close Encounters of the Third Kind – Mother Ship designer
Cocoon – conceptual artist
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial – scenic artist / spaceship design
Jurassic Park – conceptual artist
Raiders of the Lost Ar – ILM illustrator
Return of the Jedi – conceptual artist
Star Wars – production illustrator
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home – visual consultant
The Star Wars Holiday Special – illustrator
The Empire Strikes Back – design consultant and conceptual artist

















