Ralph McQuarrie

Ralph McQuarrie
Role:	Conceptual designer
BSG Universe:	Original Series
Date of Birth:	June 13, 1929
Date of Death:	March 3, 2012
Age at Death:	82
Nationality:	USA
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IMDb profile

Ralph Angus McQuarrie (June 13, 1929 – March 3, 2012) was an American conceptual designer and illustrator responsible for creating the distinctive visual look of the original Battlestar Galactica.

McQuarrie was born in Gary, Indiana, and raised on a farm near Billings, Montana. He served in the United States Army during the Korean War, where he survived being shot in the head. Following the war, McQuarrie moved to California in the 1960s to study at what is now the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena.

Prior to his work on Galactica, McQuarrie was well known for his groundbreaking conceptual designs for the Star Wars original trilogy, and later gained recognition for his visual contributions to E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and Cocoon, for which he won an Academy Award for Visual Effects in 1985.

Career

Early Work and Star Wars

Initially working as an illustrator for a dental company drawing teeth and equipment, McQuarrie later became a technical artist for Boeing in the 1960s, where he created diagrams for the 747 construction manual. In the late 1960s, he worked as an illustrator for CBS, creating animation sequences for the network's coverage of NASA's Apollo space missions.

McQuarrie's association with science fiction began when director George Lucas commissioned him in 1975 to create concept paintings for Star Wars. These illustrations were instrumental in convincing 20th Century Fox to fund Lucas's ambitious space opera, as the studio executives were initially reluctant to greenlight such an expensive science fiction project.

Battlestar Galactica

Following the success of Star Wars, McQuarrie was contacted by Glen A. Larson about his concept for Battlestar Galactica. In an interview, McQuarrie recalled:

"Following the opening of Star Wars I was contacted by Glen A. Larson. When I went in to talk to him he described his idea for a 'Wagon Train' in outer space. It sounded interesting so I agreed to do it."

Larson confirmed McQuarrie's central role in the project.

"The first people I hired were John [Dykstra], Ralph McQuarrie, and Joe Johnston (Star Wars effects illustrator.) John helped advise me as to some of the people he considered extremely helpful; he had discovered a lot of them."

When asked about his involvement in the ship designs, Larson stated:

"I had certain preconceived notions about what I wanted certain ships to look like. I asked John Dykstra to help bring a staff together, and one of the people that he recommended was Ralph McQuarrie who had done brilliant work for CBS during the NASA launches, and of course, had done great work on Star Wars."

McQuarrie worked closely with George Lucas during this period, noting:

"The Empire Strikes Back had not started yet so I came to George and explained the job, he said go ahead. Over time as I was introduced to the characters and the similarities began to come out."

This comment refers to the visual similarities between the two productions that later led to Lucas's unsuccessful lawsuit against the series.

McQuarrie's contribution to Battlestar Galactica extended beyond individual ship designs to creating the overall aesthetic of the Colonial fleet and technology. Glen Larson's office was described as having "beautiful framed Ralph McQuarrie drawings of Galactica production designs" dominating one wall, highlighting the importance of his visual concepts to the series. His design work included the iconic battlestar itself, the Colonial Vipers, and various other spacecraft and technological elements that defined the visual identity of the series.

Some of McQuarrie's early concept art for Battlestar Galactica featured the insectoid Ovions rather than the Cylon Centurions, suggesting that the alien threat in the series underwent significant development during the pre-production process. His artwork for the series maintained his characteristic style of being "slightly more streamlined and spindly" than the final produced models, a quality that many considered enhanced the elegance of the designs.

Later Career

Beyond Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica, McQuarrie contributed visual designs to numerous other science fiction productions, including Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, and Cocoon. His work on Cocoon earned him the Academy Award for Visual Effects in 1985, his only Oscar win.

Personal Life

McQuarrie was married to Joan Benjamin for 29 years. He died on March 3, 2012, at his home in Berkeley, California, from complications related to Parkinson's disease, at the age of 82.

Legacy

Following McQuarrie's death, George Lucas said: "His genial contribution, in the form of unequalled production paintings, propelled and inspired all of the cast and crew of the original Star Wars trilogy. When words could not convey my ideas, I could always point to one of Ralph's fabulous illustrations and say, 'do it like this'." McQuarrie's influence on science fiction visual design continues to be felt across multiple franchises and productions, establishing him as one of the most important conceptual artists in genre entertainment history.

References

External links

• Ralph McQuarrie Official Site
• Ralph McQuarrie Concept Sketches and Concept Paintings