Marcel Delgado (January 16, 1901 in Coahuila,

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

- November 26, 1976 in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

) was a

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

and model-maker. His technique revolutionized the

stop motion Stop motion is an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exhibit independent motion or change when the series of frames i ...

film industry The film industry or motion picture industry comprises the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking, i.e., film production companies, film studios, cinematography, animation, film production, screenwriting, pre-production, p ...

. He is best known for his work on the 1933 film ''King Kong''. Prior to Delgado, stop motion models where typically made from

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...

, which was difficult to adjust between shots. Delgado built a skeleton for his models. This skeleton was made from

Dural Dural is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia 36 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district in the local government areas of Hornsby Shire and The Hills Shire. Dural is part of the Hills District ...

and it was then filled in with foam rubber or cotton cloth and covered with latex to serve as skin, giving his models a more natural and realistic look, while simultaneously making it easier to handle them. Sometimes he also incorporated an inflatable bladder that helped him simulate breathing.

Early life

Delgado's family moved to

in 1910, running away from the Mexican Revolution. He first started sculpting at age 6. As his family was very poor, Delgado worked most of the time, leaving school behind. He did not learn English until he was 17, a fact that more often than not made his getting a job difficult. In 1921 he split his time working in a convenience store and taking art lessons at the Otis Art Institute (now called

Otis College of Art and Design Otis College of Art and Design is a private art and design school in Los Angeles, California. Established in 1918, it was the city's first independent professional school of art. The main campus is located in the former IBM Aerospace headquarte ...

), where he also got a part-time job to pay for his lessons.

Career

While he worked in the Institute he met

Willis O'Brien Willis Harold O'Brien (March 2, 1886 – November 8, 1962) was an American motion picture special effects and stop-motion animation pioneer, who according to ASIFA-Hollywood "was responsible for some of the best-known images in cinema history," ...

, who worked in special effects for movies in Hollywood. O'Brien was a specialist in building miniature creatures and sets as well as in stop-motion animation. Impressed by Delgado's work, he tried to lure him away to work with him on several occasions, offering four times more than the salary Delgado was making at the time. The answer was always the same, "I don't wanna work in the movies. I want to be an artist". When O'Brien was about to tackle the biggest challenge in his career, ''The Lost World'', he decided to make one last attempt to gain the services of the young Mexican sculptor. He invited him to spend a day in the First National studio where he was working. He walked Delgado through the whole place and then took him to the workshop where he did all the miniatures' work. "Welcome to your studio", he said, and eventually that became true. Delgado accepted the offer to work with O'Brien just to be able to work in such a place. Years later Delgado said the work area "was a clean, vast and organized place with cameras, lights, and all kind of materials. It was any artist's dream". Delgado and O'Brien worked together for many years and soon became one of the most respected special effects crews in Hollywood. Their most famous and groundbreaking collaboration was the original ''King Kong'', released in 1933. They refined these techniques in 1949's '' Mighty Joe Young'', which garnered an Academy Award for special effects (awarded to O'Brien). Delgado retired in 1965 and died on November 26, 1976 in

, California.

Films

O'Brien and Delgado's first work together was in ''The Lost World'', but they became famous a few years later with ''King Kong'' (1933). Kong's success was followed by a failed sequel, ''

Son of Kong ''The Son of Kong'' (also known and publicized simply as ''Son of Kong'') is a 1933 American Pre-Code adventure monster film produced by RKO Pictures. Directed by Ernest Schoedsack and featuring special effects by Willis O'Brien and Buzz Gibson ...

''. They also worked on movies like ''The Last Days of Pompeii'' (1935) and others. * '' The Perils of Pauline'' (1967) - gorilla costume creator (uncredited) * ''

Fantastic Voyage ''Fantastic Voyage'' is a 1966 American science fiction adventure film directed by Richard Fleischer and written by Harry Kleiner, based on a story by Otto Klement and Jerome Bixby. The film is about a submarine crew who are shrunk to micros ...

'' (1966) - miniatures (uncredited) * ''

Mary Poppins It may refer to: * ''Mary Poppins'' (book series), the original 1934–1988 children's fantasy novels that introduced the character. * Mary Poppins (character), the nanny with magical powers. * ''Mary Poppins'' (film), a 1964 Disney film sta ...

'' (1964) - special effects props (uncredited) * ''

Dinosaurus! ''Dinosaurus!'' is a 1960 science fiction film directed by Irvin Yeaworth and produced by Jack H. Harris. Plot The film is about an American engineering team led by Bart (Ward Ramsey) building a harbor on a Caribbean island when they accidentall ...

'' (1960) - dinosaur model constructor (uncredited) * ''

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea ''Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas'' (french: Vingt mille lieues sous les mers) is a classic science fiction adventure novel by French writer Jules Verne. The novel was originally serialized from March 1869 through June 1870 in Pierre-J ...

'' (1954) - miniatures (uncredited) * ''

The War of the Worlds ''The War of the Worlds'' is a science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells, first serialised in 1897 by ''Pearson's Magazine'' in the UK and by ''Cosmopolitan (magazine), Cosmopolitan'' magazine in the US. The novel's first appear ...

'' (1953) - miniatures (uncredited) * '' Mighty Joe Young'' (1949) - technical staff * '' The Wizard of Oz'' (1939) - miniatures (uncredited) * ''

The Last Days of Pompeii ''The Last Days of Pompeii'' is a novel written by Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1834. The novel was inspired by the painting ''The Last Day of Pompeii'' by the Russian painter Karl Briullov, which Bulwer-Lytton had seen in Milan. It culminates in ...

'' (1935) - miniatures (uncredited) * ''

'' (1933) - technical staff (as Marcell Delgado) * ''

King Kong King Kong is a fictional giant monster resembling a gorilla, who has appeared in various media since 1933. He has been dubbed The Eighth Wonder of the World, a phrase commonly used within the franchise. His first appearance was in the novelizat ...

'' (1933) - technical staff, model maker (uncredited), technician (uncredited)Animation Magazine - "VFX & Animation Iconcs React: Original 'King Kong' Returns to Theaters"
/ref> * ''

The Most Dangerous Game "The Most Dangerous Game", also published as "The Hounds of Zaroff", is a short story by Richard Connell, first published in ''Collier's'' on January 19, 1924, with illustrations by Wilmot Emerton Heitland. The story features a big-game hunter ...

'' (1932) - special props (uncredited) * Creation (1931 short) - miniatures * '' The Lost World'' (1925) - associate technical director, associate researcher, model construction (uncredited)

References

External links

Monsters 411- ''Kong and Beyond''''NY Times''- Filmography
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Delgado, Marcel Special effects people 1901 births 1976 deaths 20th-century Mexican sculptors Mexican emigrants to the United States