Ray Harryhausen

Ray Harryhausen, a visual effects guru often considered to have been the finest in the movie business, has died aged 92. Best known for his pioneering work on Star Wars, Jason and the Argonauts and Clash of the Titans, Harryhausen made his models by hand and shot them frame by frame to create some of the best-know sequences in cinema.

The technique was taken up by the likes of Nick Park, co-creator of the Wallace & Gromit movies who called Harryhausen "one of the true greats" this week. Star Wars creator George Lucas said that without him "there would likely have been no Star Wars." Shaun of the Dead director Edgar Wright said, "I loved every single frame of Ray Harryhausen's work.He was the man who made me believe in monsters."

Harryhausen's finest moment came when he animated seven skeletons who came to life in Jason and the Argonauts - a sequence that took three months to film, according to BBC News.

Continue reading: World's Greatest Effects Guru Ray Harryhausen Dies Aged 92

Ray Harryhausen, the mastermind behind some of Hollywood's most iconic and groundbreaking special effects, has died aged 92. The screen icon worked on such visionary films as Clash of the Titans and Jason and the Argonauts and went on to influence the likes of Steven Spielberg, James Cameron and George Lucas along the way.

Born Raymond Frederick Harryhausen in Los Angeles in June 1920, the animator worked in a time before effects could be handled on a computer, hand-making his models and painstakingly shooting them by each individual frame in a process that would take weeks to complete, but would result in some of the best-known action sequences seen in classic cinema. The official statement of Ray's death from The Ray and Diana Harryhausen Foundation Facebook page reads, "Harryhausen's genius was in being able to bring his models alive."

Clip from the groundbreaking skeleton fight from 1963's Jason and the Argonauts.

Continue reading: Special Effects Trailblazer Ray Harryhausen Dies, Aged 92