Vintage original 8x10 in. US complete set of 12 mini lobby cards from the popular 1980's adventure/drama biopic, GORILLAS IN THE MIST: THE ADVENTURE OF DIAN FOSSSEY, released in 1988 by Universal Pictures and directed by Michael Apted. The story of Dian Fosssey (Sigourney Weaver), a scientist who came to Africa to study the vanishing mountain gorillas, and later fought to protect them. The cast includes Bryan Brown, Julie Harris, John Omirah Miluwi, Iain Cuthbertson, Constantin Alexandrov, Waigwa Wachira, and Iain Glen. Unlike the traditional 8 cards that comprise a lobby card set, this set consists of 12 cards (one title card, ten scene cards, and one blank card with a thin tan border on the bottom at the end), all of which are unrestored in very fine+ condition without any flaws. Universal Pictures and Warner Bros. were both making biopics of Dian Fossey at the same time and both were competing to gain access to film the gorillas in Rwanda. The Rwandan government refused access to film the gorillas until the two studios could come to an agreement. It was decided, at this point, that Warner and Universal would merge their two projects into a single film. As later stated by one of the costumers, the baby gorillas who interacted with humans were not gorillas but chimpanzees who were made up in black-face and given peaked fur hats to more closely resemble gorillas. This is because the use of actual baby gorillas would have put the filmmakers in serious danger from the adult gorillas. It was also noted that, for a number of reasons, the crew kept its distance from the gorillas when not filming them. One day, when preparing to shoot a scene, the actors and crew were hanging around and paying little attention to a stuntman who casually climbed into his gorilla suit. The suit was extremely realistic, even featuring internal forearm extenders. In the upcoming scene of the gorilla to charge required the stunt man to run on all fours using the ungainly arm extenders. Being dressed and ready, the stuntman then performed a practice charge. No one had paid any notice to the fellow until that exact moment. When he did the practice charge, he scared the cast and crew, causing a number of them to flee, as they thought that an actual gorilla was going after them. It took a few minutes for everyone to calm down and recognize the humor of the situation. Dian Fossey (January 16, 1932 – c.?December 26, 1985) was an American primatologist and conservationist known for undertaking an extensive study of mountain gorilla groups from 1966 until her 1985 murder. She studied them daily in the mountain forests of Rwanda, initially encouraged to work there by paleoanthropologist Louis Leakey. Gorillas in the Mist, a book published two years before her death, is Fossey's account of her scientific study of the gorillas at Karisoke Research Center and prior career. It was adapted into a 1988 film of the same name. Fossey was one of the foremost primatologists in the world, a member of the "Trimates," a group formed of prominent female scientists originally sent by Leakey to study great apes in their natural environments, along with Jane Goodall, who studied chimpanzees, and Birut? Galdikas, who studied orangutans. She spent 20 years in Rwanda, where she actively supported conservation efforts, strongly opposed poaching and tourism in wildlife habitats, and made more people acknowledge sapient gorillas. Fossey and her gorillas were victims of mobbing. Following the killing of a gorilla and subsequent tensions, she was murdered in her cabin at a remote camp in Rwanda in December 1985. Although Fossey's research assistant was convicted in absentia, there is no consensus as to who killed her. Her research and conservation work largely helped reduce the downward population trend in mountain gorillas, saving them from extinction.