Carlo Rambaldi, the visual effects master best known for his pioneering work on E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial and Alien, died Friday in his native Italy at the age of 86.

Rambaldi specialized in building one-of-a-kind analog animatronic creatures, in the days before digital special effects became ubiquitous. His work garnered Oscars for visual effects for Alien (1979) and E.T. (1982).

He spent several months building the squat alien with the extended neck and the glowing fingertip. "I finished E.T. exactly two days before we started shooting," Rambaldi says via a translator in the video interview above. "In that case, you can imagine my responsibility in case it didn't work very well."

The gentle animatronic alien that Rambaldi created seemed so hyper-realistic in its features and emotional response that it could make children – and even grown adults – cry. But Rambaldi said E.T. only made him cry when the prop didn't work properly.

"All of us who marveled and wondered at his craft and artistry are deeply saddened by the news of his passing," said E.T. director Steven Spielberg in a statement to the Associated Press.

Rambaldi also worked on visual effects for King Kong (1976), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), Dune (1984) and dozens of other major movies over the course of his storied career.