Yesterday, Hollywood lost one of its foremost authorities on special effects, Mr. Ray Harryhausen. His creature effects have appeared in 17 films, beginning in 1953 with “The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms.” He went on to supply the effects for the “Jason and the Argonauts,” the “Sinbad” movies, and “Clash of the Titans” in 1981. Why was Mr. Harryhausen considered a legend?

Before the advent of digital effects, or computer generated images, filmmakers had to rely on physical effects. Mr. Harryhausen’s specialty was stop-motion animation. After sculpting life-like scale models of everything from a giant octopus, mythological gods, and sword-fighting skeletons, Harryhausen photographed the figures in continuous poses. When the film was played at full speed, the figures appeared to freely move.The technique was basically the same method employed by traditional pen-and-ink animators, such as Walt Disney’s nine old men. What separated Ray Harryhausen’s work from other stop-motion animators was the life he breathed into his characters. George Lucas, who used the same methods in the original Star Wars trilogy, said, ”I had seen some other fantasy films before, but none of them had the kind of awe that Ray Harryhausen’s movies had.”

I also appreciated Mr. Harryhausen’s work. Having grown up reading Famous Monsters of Filmland, a pulp magazine dedicated to the great horror and sci-fi films of a by-gone era, I was quite familiar with his films. And thanks to FM’s behind-the-scenes look at movie-making, I was also an admirer. In fact, I’m still in awe of what he was able to accomplish with simple sculpted figures, time, and a lot of patience.


Thank you, Mr. Harryhausen, for bringing a little magic to all of us.