RIP Ray Harryhausen

Mr E

Special Effects Legend.....

His Sinbad and Clash of the Titans effects still look fantastic today, even after all this time. There is something magical about his stop-motion animation.

RIP.

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=103886

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), MYSTERIOUS ISLAND (1961), ONE MILLION YEARS B.C. (1966), THER 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.

Duggy747

I grew up loving his effects. Something inherently creepy about them, even today. Their jittery movements and dead expressions just seemed perfect for the type of monsters they were portraying.

You can't help but respect the amount of work and dedication that went into those scenes that are still remembered today in the midst of CGI and movies drenched in money. That skeleton scene is still great to watch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOZK4MiIMZM

Was at a film museum over in London where they had an exhibition about him and all his work, was the only thing I wanted to see the most in that place.

At least he lived to a ripe old age, the old chum.

belcampprisoner

he went out with a bang

johnny_ultimate

A friend of mine on Facebook posted up 'RIP the godfather of modern SFX'.

What a grave insult! If modern artists had a tenth of the character and distinctiveness as Harryhausen's work cinema would be a much more exciting place!

Technology advance all the time, but you can't buy genuine artistry.

mike65

Genuine sadness here, and I don't care as a rule unless they go young! Ray made it to his 90s and was as alert as ever the last time I saw him interviewed. In an age of inert, characterless special effects watching his stop motion work brings one back to an age that was literally hand built with care and attention.

Jason and the Argonauts is rightly considered his finest moment but he plenty of others such as First Men in the Moon and the Sinbad series.

Youtube has a terrific documentary about his life and work. Watch it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5y2Kun99knk

Zombienosh

I just spend the past week watching his movies. Watching his Sinbad movies are some of my best childhood moments aswell as Mysterious Island.

I'll have to watch some tonight.

OldeCinemaSoz

The END of AN ERA.

RIP

The man was a genius who infused his characters with more charm than CGI will ever accomplish. Just something so wonderful about stop motion, it really is magical.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9kmjW73-v4

pixelburp

When I look back at my earliest memories of watching movies as a kid, they're easy to still remember because the emotion to this day remains vivid & raw: it was the sense of innocent wonder and excitement from all those glorious adventure yarns, monster movies and stories of fantasy and escapism that were so common on pre-digital TV schedules. They were films like the Sinbads, 20 Million Miles to Earth, the Jason and the Argonauts, Clash of the Titans and so on; and the common thread throughout was the artistry that Harryhausen brought to such thrills - his work effortlessly sucked you into those exotic places & times, where you witnessed creatures apparently defying reality.

I don't doubt that my love for cinema and escapist / genre fiction in general was spurred by Harryhausen's works. It was his work that showed me the power of creativity and imagination. People talk about the "magic of cinema" and for me personally I can pinpoint exactly where, and from who, that magic originated from.

RIP Ray, you were a magician in a time of charlatans

Welsh Megaman

His influence on stop-motion animation as a whole is immeasurable.

RIP Ray

constitutionus

aw jaysus.

it mad. ya really shouldnt know guys like harry but his work was so strong and his influence in generations of kids enjoyment ensured his fame.

jason and the argonauts and clash of the titans were two films i recall with incredible fondness. his medusa to this day still has so much character.

he got to a great age which i doubt i will myself but it doesnt take away that a legend has passed.

rest in peace ray, your work will live on long long into the furture.

mike65

That's the thing isn't it?, a technician who was more famous than any of the films he worked on or any of the stars in 'em. That doesn't happen often.

Zak Flaps

Absolute proper legend. RIP Ray. Thanks for the memories. And I really mean thanks.

Liam McPoyle

I can vividly remember been thrilled as a kid watching Clash,Sinbad etc and whenever I find them on the tv I will always watch them.

If I ever have kids these are movies that they will see.

RIP.

GAAman

I got some strange looks in the cinema during Monsters Inc when I burst out laughin at the name of the restaurant, "Harryhausens"

fryup

in this age of CGI, young people will probably scoff at the effects created by the likes Harryhausen, but they held audiences spellbound back in the day..and took an age with painstakingly detail to create

RIP