SFX Animation Legend Ray Harryhausen Passes Away

It is with the greatest regret that THN must announce the passing of an absolute, undisputed legend. Ray Harryhausen is a name synonymous with excellence, creativity, and immeasurable passion. The family of Mr. Harryhausen released a statement paying tribute to the 92 year old’s life and work.

The Harryhausen family regret to announce the death of Ray Harryhausen, Visual Effects pioneer and stop-motion model animator. He was a multi-award winner which includes a special Oscar and BAFTA. Ray’s influence on today’s film makers was enormous, with luminaries; Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, Peter Jackson, George Lucas, John Landis and the UK’s own Nick Park have cited Harryhausen as being the man whose work inspired their own creations.

Harryhausen’s fascination with animated models began when he first saw Willis O’Brien’s creations in KING KONG with his boyhood friend, the author Ray Bradbury in 1933, and he made his first foray into filmmaking in 1935 with home-movies that featured his youthful attempts at model animation. Over the period of the next 46 years, he made some of the genres best known movies – MIGHTY JOE YOUNG (1949), IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA (1955), 20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH (1957), MYSTERIUOUS ISLAND (1961), ONE MILLION YEARS B.C. (1966), THE VALLEY OF GWANGI (1969), three films based on the adventures of SINBAD and CLASH OF THE TITANS (1981). He is perhaps best remembered for his extraordinary animation of seven skeletons in JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS (1963) which took him three months to film.

Harryhausen’s genius was in being able to bring his models alive. Whether they were prehistoric dinosaurs or mythological creatures, in Ray’s hands they were no longer puppets but became instead characters in their own right, just as important as the actors they played against and in most cases even more so.

Those words pretty much say it all, but no words could truly capture the exact impact of Harryhausen’s work. He dared to dream of gigantic creatures and bizarre beings, decades before computers made such creations a thing of normality. I remember sitting enchanted by his creations in films such as JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS and CLASH OF THE TITANS. For a demonstration of just how powerful Harryhausen’s work was, merely line up the Medusa scene from CLASH OF THE TITANS (1981) and the recent remake, and see which one fills you with fear and excitement.

I was lucky enough last year to see an exhibition of his work in London, and unlike CGI, even when you know how the creatures were formed you still remain impressed at the work and detail that went into his monsters. The man’s influence can be felt throughout cinema, with loving nods served to him in films such as MONSTER’S INC., with the restaurant named after him. Just last night I fell asleep watching the 2004 Carmen Electra starrer MONSTER ISLAND, which named Adam West’s character after the animation God.

There will never be another Ray Harryhausen, and I highly doubt anyone in the visual effects industry will ever have such a lasting impression on the industry. A true pioneer in both special effects and realising dreams perhaps it’s fitting that this year saw the DVD release of a documentary based on his works, RAY HARRYHAUSEN: SPECIAL EFFECTS TITAN. All that’s left to say is Ray Harryhausen 1920-2013 R.I.P.