Effects pioneer Ray Harryhausen has died

I don't know about you but I was raised on Ray. His monsters fired my imagination and populated both my dreams and nightmares. His work represented the gold standard in special effects in the decades before Star Wars and films like "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad" still stand up today as singular creations of genius. The list of his film accomplishments is a long one: "Jason and the Argonauts", "Clash of the Titans", "The Golden Voyage of Sinbad', "Mighty Joe Young", "It came from Beneath the Sea", "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad" and many, many more. Most movie makers would be happy to have one of those films on their resume.

While his method for creating special effects has largely passed into the history books the ability of his work to create wide-eyed attention has not. His obsessive dedication to his craft changed movies for the better and enriched my life, and the lives of countless others, in a way only the work of a true artist can.

Some tributes:

Robert Rodriguez: “Ray is the reason I became a filmmaker. He inspired me with his hands on, do it yourself filmmaking. Filled with imagination and painstaking craftsmanship. A treasure.”

Guillermo del Toro: "He was a true pioneer, a man who took the mantle of stop-motion and elevated it to an art form. Like all great monster makers, he worked almost single-handed. He was designer, technician, sculptor, painter and cinematographer all at once. To my generation, and to every generation of monster lovers to come, he will stand above all. Forever."

J.J. Abrams: “He was, obviously, a genius, infinitely ahead of his time. He inspired us all with his skill and imagination, and will be missed.”

George Lucas: “Without Ray Harryhausen, there would likely have been no STAR WARS”

James Cameron: “I think all of us who are practitioners in the arts of science fiction and fantasy movies now all feel that we’re standing on the shoulders of a giant. If not for Ray’s contribution to the collective dreamscape, we wouldn’t be who we are.”



Ray Harryhausen was 92.