Raymond Frederick Harryhausen (June 29, 1920 – May 7, 2013) was an American-British

animator An animator is an artist who creates images, known as frames, which give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, and video games. Animat ...

and

special effects Special effects (often abbreviated as F/X or simply FX) are illusions or visual tricks used in the theatre, film, television, video game, amusement park and simulator industries to simulate the fictional events in a story or virtual world. ...

creator who is regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of both fields. In a career spanning more than 40 years, he built upon the techniques of his mentor, Willis H. O’Brien, to develop a form of

stop motion Stop-motion (also known as stop frame animation) is an animated filmmaking and special effects technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exh ...

model animation A model is an informative representation of an object, person, or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin , . Models can be divided int ...

known as "Dynamation" and advance the field of cinematic special effects. Though not credited as a writer or director on any of the feature films he worked on, the role he played in shaping those he made during his peak years has led to him being regarded as “cinema’s sole

visual effects Visual effects (sometimes abbreviated as VFX) is the process by which imagery is created or manipulated outside the context of a live-action shot in filmmaking and video production. The integration of live-action footage and other live-action fo ...

auteur An (; , ) is an artist with a distinctive approach, usually a film director whose filmmaking control is so unbounded and personal that the director is likened to the "author" of the film, thus manifesting the director's unique style or thematic ...

,” and the creatures and sequences he animated are considered some of the most iconic in the history of cinema. Inspired by O’Brien’s work on '' The Lost World'' (1925) and ''

King Kong King Kong, also referred to simply as Kong, is a fictional giant monster resembling a gorilla, who has appeared in various media since 1933. The character has since become an international pop culture icon,Erb, Cynthia, 1998, ''Tracking Kin ...

'' (1933), Harryhausen spent his adolescence developing his skills with stop motion, leading to him working under O’Brien on '' Mighty Joe Young'' (1949) and '' The Animal World'' (1956). He took charge of the animation on ''

The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms ''The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms'' is a 1953 American independent monster film directed by Eugène Lourié, with stop motion animation by Ray Harryhausen. It is partly based on Ray Bradbury's 1951 short story of the same name, which was later ...

'' (1953) before teaming up with producer Charles H. Schneer, with whom he would make 12 films over 26 years. These include ''

It Came from Beneath the Sea ''It Came from Beneath the Sea'' is a 1955 American science fiction monster horror film from Columbia Pictures, produced by Sam Katzman and Charles Schneer, directed by Robert Gordon, that stars Kenneth Tobey, Faith Domergue, and Donald Cur ...

'' (1955), '' The 7^th Voyage of Sinbad'' (1958), '' Jason and the Argonauts'' (1963), ''

First Men in the Moon ''The First Men in the Moon'' by the English author H. G. Wells is a scientific romance, originally serialised in ''The Strand Magazine'' and '' The Cosmopolitan'' from November 1900 to June 1901 and published in hardcover in 1901. Wells calle ...

'' (1964), ''

The Valley of Gwangi ''The Valley of Gwangi'' is a 1969 American fantasy Western film produced by Charles H. Schneer and Ray Harryhausen, directed by Jim O'Connolly, written by William Bast, and starring James Franciscus, Richard Carlson, and Gila Golan. Creatu ...

'' (1969), ''

The Golden Voyage of Sinbad ''The Golden Voyage of Sinbad'' is a 1973 fantasy adventure film directed by Gordon Hessler, featuring stop-motion effects by Ray Harryhausen. The film stars John Phillip Law, Tom Baker, Takis Emmanuel, and Caroline Munro. Based on the ''Ar ...

'' (1973), ''

Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger ''Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger'' is a 1977 fantasy adventure film directed by Sam Wanamaker and featuring stop-motion effects by Ray Harryhausen. The film stars Patrick Wayne, Taryn Power, Jane Seymour and Patrick Troughton. The third and f ...

'' (1977), and '' Clash of the Titans'' (1981), after which he retired from feature filmmaking. He also created the special effects for ''

One Million Years B.C. ''One Million Years B.C.'' is a 1966 British Adventure film, adventure fantasy film directed by Don Chaffey. The film was produced by Hammer Film Productions and Seven Arts Productions, Seven Arts, and is a remake of the 1940 American fantasy f ...

'' (1966), produced by

Hammer Films A hammer is a tool, most often a hand tool, consisting of a weighted "head" fixed to a long handle that is swung to deliver an impact to a small area of an object. This can be, for example, to drive nails into wood, to shape metal (as wi ...

. In 1960, Harryhausen moved to the United Kingdom and became a dual American-British citizen. During his life, his innovative style of special effects in films inspired numerous filmmakers, and homages to Harryhausen and his work have appeared in a wide range of media. He spent his retirement giving talks, authoring books, and appearing in retrospectives on his work and legacy. In 1986, he and his wife Diana Livingston Bruce founded the Ray & Diana Harryhausen Foundation to preserve his models and archives, which have been the subject of multiple exhibitions around the world. His accolades include the honorary Gordon E. Sawyer

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

, an honorary

BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...

, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the

Visual Effects Society The Visual Effects Society (VES) is an entertainment industry organization representing visual effects practitioners including artists, animators, technologists, model makers, educators, studio leaders, supervisors, PR/marketing specialists and p ...

. His death in May 2013 was met by widespread tributes from filmmakers, animators, and special effects technicians, with

Peter Lord Peter Duncan Fraser Lord CBE (born 4 November 1953) is a British animator, director, producer and co-founder of the Academy Award-winning Aardman Animations studio, an animation firm best known for its clay-animated films and shorts, particu ...

calling him “a one-man industry and a one-man genre.”

Early life

Raymond Frederick Harryhausen was born on June 29, 1920, in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, California, the son of Martha L. (née Reske) and Frederick W. Harryhausen. Of

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

descent, the family surname was originally spelled "Herrenhausen".

Life and career

1930s and 1940s

After having seen ''

'' (1933) on its initial release for the first of many times, Harryhausen spent his early years experimenting in the production of animated shorts, inspired by the burgeoning science fiction literary genre of the period. The scenes utilising

stop-motion animation Stop-motion (also known as stop frame animation) is an animated filmmaking and special effects technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exh ...

(or

), those featuring creatures on the island or Kong, were the work of pioneer model animator

Willis O'Brien Willis Harold O'Brien (March 2, 1886 – November 8, 1962), known as Obie O'Brien, was an American motion picture special effects and stop-motion animation pioneer, who according to ASIFA-Hollywood "was responsible for some of the best-known im ...

. His work in ''King Kong'' inspired Harryhausen, and a friend arranged a meeting with O'Brien for him. O'Brien critiqued Harryhausen's early models and urged him to take classes in graphic arts and sculpture to hone his skills. Taking O'Brien's advice, while still at high school, Harryhausen took evening classes in art direction, photography and editing at the newly formed

School of Cinematic Arts The USC School of Cinematic Arts is an academic unit of the University of Southern California, in Los Angeles. With a history that dates to the first years of talkies, the school descends from America's first program to confer a college degree in ...

at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

, where he would later serve as a lecturer. Meanwhile, he became friends with an aspiring writer,

Ray Bradbury Ray Douglas Bradbury ( ; August 22, 1920June 5, 2012) was an American author and screenwriter. One of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers, he worked in a variety of genres, including fantasy, science fiction, Horror fiction, horr ...

, with similar enthusiasms. Bradbury and Harryhausen joined the Los Angeles chapter of the

Science Fiction League The Science Fiction League was one of the earliest associations formed by science fiction fans. It was created by Hugo Gernsback in February 1934 in the pages of ''Wonder Stories'', an early science fiction pulp magazine. Gernsback was the Leag ...

(now the

Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society The Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society, Inc., or LASFS, is a science fiction fandom#Science fiction societies, science fiction and fantasy fan society that meets in the Los Angeles, California, Los Angeles area. The current meeting place can be f ...

), Bradbury in 1937, Harryhausen in 1939, where they met

Forrest J Ackerman Forrest James Ackerman (November 24, 1916 – December 4, 2008) was an American magazine editor; science fiction writer, and literary agent; a founder of science fiction fandom; a leading expert on science fiction, horror, and fantasy films; a ...

; and the three became lifelong friends. After studying art and anatomy at

Los Angeles City College Los Angeles City College (LACC) is a public community college in East Hollywood, California. A part of the Los Angeles Community College District, it is located on Vermont Avenue south of Santa Monica Boulevard on the former campus of the U ...

, Harryhausen secured his first commercial model-animation job, on George Pal's ''

Puppetoons ''Puppetoons'' is a series of animated puppet films made in Europe (1930s) and in the United States (1940s) by George Pal. They were made using replacement animation: using a series of different hand-carved wooden puppets (or puppet heads or limbs ...

'' shorts, based on viewing his first formal demo reel of fighting dinosaurs from a project called ''Evolution'', which was never finished, after Harryhausen saw Disney's ''Rite of Spring'' montage in ''

Fantasia Fantasia may refer to: Film and television * ''Fantasia'' (1940 film), an animated musical film produced by Walt Disney ** '' Fantasia 2000'', a sequel to the 1940 film * ''Fantasia'' (2004 film), a Hong Kong comedy film * ''Fantasia'' (201 ...

''. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Harryhausen served in the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

's Special Services Division under Colonel

Frank Capra Frank Russell Capra (born Francesco Rosario Capra; May 18, 1897 – September 3, 1991) was an Italian-American film director, producer, and screenwriter who was the creative force behind Frank Capra filmography#Films that won Academy Award ...

, as a loader, clapper boy, gofer and later camera assistant, whilst working at home animating short films about the use and development of military equipment. During this time, he also worked with composer

Dimitri Tiomkin Dimitri Zinovievich Tiomkin (May 10, 1894 – November 11, 1979) was a Russian and American film composer and conductor. Classically trained in Saint Petersburg before the Bolshevik Revolution, he moved to Berlin and then New York City after t ...

and Ted Geisel ("

Dr. Seuss Theodor Seuss Geisel ( ;"Seuss"
'' 16 mm surplus film from which he made a series of

fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, household tale, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic, enchantments, and mythical or fanciful bei ...

-based shorts, which he called his "teething-rings". In 1947, Harryhausen was hired as an assistant animator (credited as "First technician, Special Effects") on what turned out to be his first major film, '' Mighty Joe Young'' (1949).

1950s

The first film with Ray Harryhausen in full charge of technical effects was the monster horror movie ''

'' (1953) which began development under the working title ''Monster From the Sea''. The filmmakers learned that a long-time friend of Harryhausen, writer

, had sold a short story called "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms" (later re-titled "

The Fog Horn "The Fog Horn" is a 1951 science fiction short story by American writer Ray Bradbury, the first in his collection ''The Golden Apples of the Sun''. The story was the basis for the 1953 action horror film ''The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms''. Plot ...

") to ''

The Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine published six times a year. It was published weekly from 1897 until 1963, and then every other week until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely circulated and influ ...

'', about a dinosaur drawn to a lone lighthouse by its foghorn. Because the story for Harryhausen's film featured a similar scene, the film studio bought the rights to Bradbury's story to avoid any potential legal problems. Also, the title was changed back to ''

''. Under that title, it became Harryhausen's first solo feature film effort, and a major international box-office hit for

Warner Brothers Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

. It was on ''The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms'' that Harryhausen first used a technique he created called "Dynamation" which split the background and foreground of pre-shot live action footage into two separate images into which he would animate a model or models, seemingly integrating the live-action with the models. The background would be used as a miniature rear-screen with his models animated in front of it, re-photographed with an animation-capable camera to combine those two elements together, the foreground element matted out to leave a black space. Then the film was rewound, and everything except the foreground element matted out so that the foreground element would now photograph in the previously blacked-out area. This created the effect that the animated model was "sandwiched" in between the two live-action elements, right into the final live action scene. In most of Harryhausen's films, model animated characters interact with, and are a part of, the live action world, with the idea that they will cease to call attention to themselves as only "animation." Most of the effects shots in his earliest films were created via Harryhausen's careful frame-by-frame control of the lighting of both the set and the projector. This dramatically reduced much of degradation common in the use of back-projection or the creation of dupe negatives via the use of an

optical printer An optical printer is a device consisting of one or more film projectors mechanically linked to a movie camera. It allows filmmakers to re-photograph one or more strips of film. The optical printer is used for making visual effects for motion p ...

. Harryhausen's use of diffused glass to soften the sharpness of light on the animated elements allowed the matching of the soft background plates far more successfully than Willis O'Brien had achieved in his early films, allowing Harryhausen to match live and miniature elements seamlessly in most of his shots. By developing and executing most of this miniature work himself, Harryhausen saved money, while maintaining full technical control. 7th voyage of Sinbad - Cyclops vs Dragon

7th voyage of Sinbad - Cyclops vs Dragon

A few years later, when Harryhausen began working with color film to make ''

The 7th Voyage of Sinbad ''The 7th Voyage of Sinbad'' is a 1958 American Technicolor heroic fantasy adventure film directed by Nathan H. Juran and starring Kerwin Mathews, Kathryn Grant, Torin Thatcher, Richard Eyer, and Alec Mango. It was distributed by Columbia Pict ...

'', he experimented extensively with color film stocks to overcome the color-balance-shift problems. Ray's producer/partner Charles H. Schneer coined the word Dynamation as a "merchandising term" (modifying it to "SuperDynaMation" and then "Dynarama" for some subsequent films). Harryhausen was always heavily involved in the pre-production conceptualizing of each film's story, script development, art-direction, design, storyboards, and general tone of his films, as much as any ''

'' director would have on any other film, which any "director" of Harryhausen's films had to understand and agree to work under. The complexities of the

Directors Guild of America The Directors Guild of America (DGA) is an entertainment guild that represents the interests of Film director, film and Television director, television directors in the United States motion picture industry and abroad. Founded as the Screen Dir ...

's rules prevented Harryhausen from being credited as the director of his films, resulting in the more modest credits he had in most of his films. Throughout most of his career, Harryhausen's work was a sort of family affair. His father did the machining of the metal armatures (based on his son's designs) that were the skeletons for the models and allowed them to keep their position, while his mother assisted with some miniature costumes. After Harryhausen's father died in 1973, Harryhausen contracted his armature work out to another machinist. An occasional assistant,

George Lofgren George may refer to: Names * George (given name) * George (surname) People * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Papagheorghe, also known as Jorge / GEØRGE * George, stage name of Giorgi ...

, a taxidermist, assisted Harryhausen with the creation of furred creatures. Another associate, Willis Cook, built some of Harryhausen's miniature sets. Other than that, Harryhausen worked generally alone to produce almost all of the animation for his films. The same year that ''Beast'' was released, 1953, fledgling film producer

Irwin Allen Irwin Allen (born Irwin O. Cohen; June 12, 1916 – November 2, 1991) was an American film and television producer and director, known for his work in science fiction, then later as the "Master of Disaster" for his work in the disaster film genr ...

released a live action documentary about life in the oceans titled ''

The Sea Around Us ''The Sea Around Us'' is a prize-winning and best-selling book by the American marine biologist Rachel Carson, first published as a whole by Oxford University Press in 1951. It reveals the science and poetry of the sea while ranging from its p ...

'', which won an

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People and fictional and mythical characters * Oscar (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters named Oscar, Óscar or Oskar * Oscar (footballer, born 1954), Brazilian footballer ...

for best documentary feature film of that year. Allen's and Harryhausen's paths would cross three years later, on Allen's sequel to this film. Harryhausen soon met and began a fruitful partnership with producer Charles H. Schneer, who was working with the

Sam Katzman Sam Katzman (July 7, 1901 – August 4, 1973) was an American film producer and director. Katzman's specialty was producing low-budget genre films, including serials, which had disproportionately high returns for the studios and his financi ...

B-picture unit of

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Columbia Pictures, is an American film Production company, production and Film distributor, distribution company that is the flagship unit of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group ...

. Their first tandem project was ''

'' (a.k.a. ''Monster from Beneath the Sea'', 1955), about a giant octopus attacking San Francisco. It was a box-office success, quickly followed by '' Earth vs. the Flying Saucers'' (1956), set in Washington D.C. – one of the best of the alien invasion films of the 1950s, and also a box office hit. In 1954,

had started work on a second feature-length documentary film, this one about animal life on land called '' The Animal World'' (completed in 1956). Needing an opening sequence about

dinosaurs Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic Geological period, period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the #Evolutio ...

, Allen hired premier model animator

to animate the dinosaurs, but then gave him a practically impossibly short production schedule. O'Brien again hired Harryhausen to help with animation to complete the eight-minute sequence. It was Harryhausen's and O'Brien's first and only professional full-color work. (''Animal World'' is available on the DVD release of O'Brien's 1957 film '' The Black Scorpion''.) Harryhausen then returned to Columbia and Charles Schneer to make ''

20 Million Miles to Earth ''20 Million Miles to Earth'' (also known as ''The Beast from Space'') is a 1957 American science-fiction monster film directed by Nathan Juran and featuring stop-motion animation by Ray Harryhausen. It stars William Hopper, Joan Taylor, and ...

'' (1957), about an American spaceship returning from the planet

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is often called Earth's "twin" or "sister" planet for having almost the same size and mass, and the closest orbit to Earth's. While both are rocky planets, Venus has an atmosphere much thicker ...

. The spaceship crashes into the sea near

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

, releasing an on-board alien egg specimen which washes up on shore. The egg soon hatches a creature that, in Earth's atmosphere, rapidly grows to gigantic size and terrifies the citizens of Rome. Harryhausen refined and improved his already-considerable ability at establishing emotional characterizations in the face of his Venusian ''Ymir'' model, creating yet another international box office hit. Schneer was eager to graduate to full-color films. Reluctant at first, Harryhausen managed to develop the systems necessary to maintain proper color balances for his DynaMation process, resulting in his biggest hit of the 1950s, ''

'' (1958). The top-grossing film of that summer, and one of the top-grossing films of that year, Schneer and Harryhausen signed another deal with Columbia for four more color films.

1960s

After ''

The 3 Worlds of Gulliver ''The 3 Worlds of Gulliver'' is a 1960 American Eastmancolor fantasy adventure film loosely based upon the 1726 novel ''Gulliver's Travels'' by Jonathan Swift. The film stars Kerwin Mathews as the title character, June Thorburn as his fiancée E ...

'' (1960) and ''

Mysterious Island ''The Mysterious Island'' () is a novel by Jules Verne, serialised from August 1874 to September 1875 and then published in book form in November 1875. The first edition, published by Hetzel, contains illustrations by Jules Férat. The novel is ...

'' (1961), both great artistic and technical successes, and successful at the box office, according to Harryhausen, who stated in the DVD and Blu-ray featurette about the making of ''Mysterious Island'': "''Mysterious Island'' was one of the most successful films that we made and I am glad people are still enjoying it today". And ''Gulliver'' "made its profits" as Ray is quoted in

Jeff Rovin Jeff Rovin is an American magazine editor, freelance writer, columnist, and author, who has appeared on ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list. Biography Jeff Rovin has been editor-in-chief of ''Weekly World News'', an assistant editor and w ...

's bio-book ''From The Land Beyond Beyond: The Making of the Movie Monsters You've Known and Loved – The Films of Willis O'Brien and Ray Harryhausen''. His next film is considered by film historians and fans as Harryhausen's masterwork, '' Jason and the Argonauts'' (1963). Among the film's several celebrated animation sequences is an extended fight between three actors and seven living skeletons, a considerable advance on the single-skeleton fight scene in ''Sinbad''. This stop-motion sequence took over four months to complete. Harryhausen Allosaurus Talos NMM

Harryhausen next made ''

'' (1964), his only film made in the 2.35:1

widescreen Widescreen images are displayed within a set of aspect ratio (image), aspect ratios (relationship of image width to height) used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ...

(a.k.a. "

CinemaScope CinemaScope is an anamorphic format, anamorphic lens series used, from 1953 to 1967, and less often later, for shooting widescreen films that, crucially, could be screened in theatres using existing equipment, albeit with a lens adapter. Its cr ...

") format, based on the novel by

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells (21 September 1866 – 13 August 1946) was an English writer, prolific in many genres. He wrote more than fifty novels and dozens of short stories. His non-fiction output included works of social commentary, politics, hist ...

. ''Jason'' and ''First Men in the Moon'' were box office disappointments at the time of their original theatrical release. That, plus changes of management at Columbia Pictures, resulted in his contract with Columbia Picture not being renewed. Also, as the 1960s counter-culture came to influence more and more and younger filmmakers, and failing studios struggled to find material that was popular with the new " Boomer-generation" audience, Harryhausen's love of the past, setting his stories in ancient fantasy worlds or previous centuries, kept him from keeping pace with changing tastes in the 1960s. Only a handful of Harryhausen's features have been set in then-present time, and none in the future. As this revolution in the traditional Hollywood film studio system, and the influx of a new generation of film makers sorted itself out, Harryhausen became a free agent. Harryhausen was then hired by

to animate the dinosaurs for ''

'' (1966). It was a success at the box office, helped in part by the presence of

Raquel Welch Jo Raquel Welch (; September 5, 1940 – February 15, 2023) was an American actress. Welch first gained attention for her role in ''Fantastic Voyage'' (1966), after which she signed a long-term contract with 20th Century Fox. They lent her con ...

in her second film. Harryhausen next went on to make another dinosaur film, ''

'' with Schneer. The project had been developed for Columbia, who declined. Schneer then made a deal with

instead. It was a personal project to Harryhausen, which he had wanted to do for many years, as it was storyboarded by his original mentor, Willis O'Brien for a 1939 film, ''Gwangi'', that was never completed. Set in Mexico, ''

'' is a parallel ''Kong'' story—cowboys capture a living ''

Allosaurus ''Allosaurus'' ( ) is an extinct genus of theropod dinosaur that lived 155 to 145 million years ago during the Late Jurassic period ( Kimmeridgian to late Tithonian ages). The first fossil remains that could definitively be ascribed to th ...

'' and bring him to the nearest Mexican town for exhibition. Sabotage releases the creature, and it wreaks havoc on the town. The film features a roping scene reminiscent of 1949's ''Mighty Joe Young'' (which was itself recycled from the old ''Gwangi'' storyboards), and a spectacular fire and animation sequence inside a cathedral toward the end of the film, combining multiple special effects.

1970s–1990s

After a few lean years, Harryhausen and Schneer talked Columbia Pictures into reviving the Sinbad character, resulting in ''

'', often remembered for the sword fight involving a statue of the six-armed Hindu goddess Kali. It was first released in Los Angeles in the Christmas season of 1973, but garnered its main audience in the spring and summer of 1974. It was followed by ''

'' (1977), which disappointed some fans because of its tongue-in-cheek approach. Both films were, however, box office successes. Schneer and Harryhausen finally were allowed by

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...

to produce a big budget film with name actors and an expanded effects budget. The film started out smaller, but then MGM increased the budget to hire stars such as

Laurence Olivier Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier ( ; 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an English actor and director. He and his contemporaries Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud made up a trio of male actors who dominated the British stage of the m ...

. It became the last feature film to showcase his effects work, '' Clash of the Titans'' (1981), for which he was nominated for a

Saturn Award The Saturn Awards are American awards presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. The awards were created to honor science fiction, fantasy, and horror in film, but have since grown to reward other films bel ...

for Best Special Effects. For this film, he hired protégé model animators Steve Archer and two-time Oscar-nominated

Jim Danforth James Danforth (born July 13, 1940) is an American stop-motion animator, known for model-animation, matte painting, and for his work on ''When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth'' (1970), a theme-sequel to Ray Harryhausen's '' One Million Years B.C.'' ( ...

to assist with major animation sequences. Harryhausen fans will readily discern that the armed-and-finned Kraken (a name borrowed from medieval Scandinavian folklore) he invented for ''Clash of the Titans'' has similar facial qualities to the Venusian Ymir he created 25 years earlier for ''

''. Perhaps because of his hermetic production style and the fact that he produced half of his films outside of Hollywood (living in London since 1960), reducing his day-to-day kinship with other more traditional, but still influential Hollywood effects artists, none of Harryhausen's films were nominated for a special effects Oscar. Harryhausen himself says the reason was that he worked in Europe, but this oversight by the AMPAS visual-effects committee also occurred throughout the 1950s when Harryhausen lived in Los Angeles. In spite of the very successful box office returns of ''Clash of the Titans'', more sophisticated computer-assisted technology developed by ILM and others began to eclipse Harryhausen's production techniques, and so MGM and other studios passed on funding his planned sequel, ''Force of the Trojans'', causing Harryhausen and Schneer to retire from active filmmaking. In the early 1970s, Harryhausen had also concentrated his efforts on authoring a book, ''Film Fantasy Scrapbook'' (produced in three editions as his last three films were released), and supervising the restoration and release of (eventually all) his films to VHS, Laserdisc, DVD, and currently Blu-ray. A second book followed, ''Ray Harryhausen: An Animated Life'', written with author and friend Tony Dalton, which details his techniques and history. This was then followed in 2005 by ''The Art of Ray Harryhausen'', featuring sketches and drawings for his many projects, some of them unrealized. In 2008, Harryhausen and Dalton published a history of stop-motion model animation, ''A Century of Model Animation'', and, to celebrate Harryhausen's 90th birthday, the Ray & Diana Harryhausen Foundation published ''Ray Harryhausen – A Life in Pictures''. In 2011, Harryhausen and Dalton's last volume, called ''Ray Harryhausen's Fantasy Scrapbook'', was also published. Harryhausen continued his lifelong friendship with

until Bradbury's death in 2012. Another longtime close friend was ''

Famous Monsters of Filmland ''Famous Monsters of Filmland'' is an American film genre, genre-specific List of film periodicals, film magazine, started in 1958 by publisher James Warren (publisher), James Warren and editor Forrest J Ackerman. ''Famous Monsters of Filmland ...

'' magazine editor, book writer, and sci-fi collector

, who loaned Harryhausen his photos of ''King Kong'' in 1933, right after Harryhausen had seen the film for the first time. Harryhausen also maintained his friendships with his longtime producer, Charles H. Schneer, who lived next door to him in a suburb of London until Schneer moved full-time to the U.S. (a few years later, in early 2009, Schneer died at 88 in

Boca Raton, Florida Boca Raton ( ; ) is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The population was 97,422 in the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and it ranked as the 23rd-largest city in Florida in 2022. Many people with a Boca Raton Address, ...

); and with model animation protégé,

, still living in the Los Angeles area. Harryhausen and Terry Moore appeared in small comedic cameo roles in the 1998 remake of '' Mighty Joe Young'', and he provided the voice of a polar bear cub in the film ''

Elf An elf (: elves) is a type of humanoid supernatural being in Germanic peoples, Germanic folklore. Elves appear especially in Norse mythology, North Germanic mythology, being mentioned in the Icelandic ''Poetic Edda'' and the ''Prose Edda'' ...

''. He also appears as a bar patron in ''

Beverly Hills Cop III ''Beverly Hills Cop III'' is a 1994 American action comedy film starring Eddie Murphy. The third film in the ''Beverly Hills Cop'' franchise, it was written by Steven E. de Souza and directed by John Landis. Murphy again plays Detroit detect ...

'', and as a doctor in the John Landis film ''

Spies Like Us ''Spies Like Us'' is a 1985 American spy comedy film directed by John Landis, and starring Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, Steve Forrest, and Donna Dixon. The film presents the comic adventures of two novice intelligence agents sent to the Soviet ...

''. In 2010, Harryhausen had a brief cameo in '' Burke & Hare'', a British film directed by Landis. In 1986, Harryhausen formed the Ray & Diana Harryhausen Foundation, a registered charity in the U.K. and U.S. that preserves his collection and promotes the art of

stop-motion Stop-motion (also known as stop frame animation) is an animation, animated filmmaking and special effects technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appe ...

animation and Harryhausen's contributions to the genre.

2000s–2010s

TidalWave Productions TidalWave Productions (previously known as Bluewater Productions, StormFront Media/Publishing & Storm Entertainment) is an independent production studio of comic books and graphic novels. Based in Portland, Oregon, United States, Bluewater publis ...

' '' Ray Harryhausen Signature Series'' produced authorized comic-book adaptions of some of Harryhausen's unrealized projects from 2007 on. In 2009, he released self-colorized versions on Blu-Ray video of three of his classic black-and-white Columbia films: ''

'', '' Earth vs. the Flying Saucers'', and ''

''. He also personally supervised the colorization of three films, two of them in partial tribute to their producer

Merian C. Cooper Merian Caldwell Cooper (October 24, 1893 – April 21, 1973) was an American filmmaker, actor, producer and air officer. In film, his most famous work was the 1933 movie ''King Kong (1933 film), King Kong'', and he is credited as co-inventor of ...

, who had supervised ''King Kong'', the film that inspired him as a young man: ''

The Most Dangerous Game "The Most Dangerous Game", also published as "The Hounds of Zaroff", is a short story by Richard Connell, first published in ''Collier's'' on January 19, 1924, with illustrations by Wilmot Emerton Heitland. The story features a big-game hunter ...

'' (1932), ''

She She or S.H.E. may refer to: Language * She (pronoun), the third person singular, feminine, nominative case pronoun in modern English Places * She County, Anhui ** She Prefecture, 589-1121 * She County, Hebei * She River, or Sheshui, Hubei * ...

'' (1935), and the non-Cooper film ''

Things to Come ''Things to Come'' is a 1936 British science fiction film produced by Alexander Korda, directed by William Cameron Menzies, and written by H. G. Wells. It is a loose adaptation of Wells' book '' The Shape of Things to Come''. The film stars Ra ...

'' (1936).

Personal life

Harryhausen married Diana Livingstone Bruce in October, 1962. The couple had a daughter, Vanessa.

Death and legacy

The family announced Harryhausen's death on Twitter and Facebook on May 7, 2013 and a representative of the family confirmed his death to the BBC as well as by CBS News and confirmed by his former friend and biographer, Tony Dalton.Facebook
Ray and Diana Harryhausen Foundation Facebook Page
Retrieved 7 June 2013. Diana survived her husband by five months. Harryhausen was buried in St Peter's Church, Brooke, Norfolk. The ''

Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily Tabloid journalism, tabloid newspaper. Founded in 1903, it is part of Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), which is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the tit ...

'' quoted Harryhausen's website, saying his "influence on today's film makers was enormous, with luminaries;

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg ( ; born December 18, 1946) is an American filmmaker. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, Spielberg is widely regarded as one of the greatest film directors of all time and is ...

James Cameron James Francis Cameron (born August 16, 1954) is a Canadian filmmaker, who resides in New Zealand. He is a major figure in the post-New Hollywood era and often uses novel technologies with a Classical Hollywood cinema, classical filmmaking styl ...

Peter Jackson Sir Peter Robert Jackson (born 31 October 1961) is a New Zealand filmmaker. He is best known as the director, writer, and producer of the ''Lord of the Rings'' trilogy (2001–2003) and the ''Hobbit'' trilogy (2012–2014), both of which ar ...

George Lucas George Walton Lucas Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American filmmaker and philanthropist. He created the ''Star Wars'' and ''Indiana Jones'' franchises and founded Lucasfilm, LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic and THX. He served as chairman ...

John Landis John David Landis (born August 3, 1950) is an American filmmaker and actor. He is best known for directing comedy films such as ''The Kentucky Fried Movie'' (1977), ''Animal House, National Lampoon's Animal House'' (1978), The Blues Brothers (f ...

and the U.K.'s own

Nick Park Nicholas Wulstan Park (born 6 December 1958) is an English filmmaker and animator who created '' Wallace & Gromit'', '' Creature Comforts'', '' Chicken Run'', '' Shaun the Sheep'', and '' Early Man''. Park has been nominated for an Academy ...

have cited Harryhausen as being the man whose work inspired their own creations." Harryhausen drew a distinction between films that combine special effects animation with live action and films that are completely animated, such those of

Henry Selick Charles Henry Selick Jr. (; born November 30, 1952) is an American filmmaker and animator. He is known for his work in stop motion animation and for directing the films ''The Nightmare Before Christmas'' (1993), ''James and the Giant Peach (film) ...

Ivo Caprino Ivo Caprino (17 February 1920 – 8 February 2001) was a Norway, Norwegian film director and writer, best known for his puppet films. His most noted film, ''Flåklypa Grand Prix'' (Pinchcliffe Grand Prix), was made in 1975. Early life Cap ...

Ladislav Starevich Ladislas Starevich (, ; August 8, 1882 – February 26, 1965) was a Polish-Russian stop-motion animator notable as the author of the first puppet-animated film '' The Beautiful Leukanida'' (1912). He also used dead insects and other animals as p ...

(and his own fairy tale shorts), which he saw as pure "puppet films", and which are more accurately (and traditionally) called "puppet animation". The BBC quoted

Aardman Animations Aardman Animations Limited, known simply as Aardman, is a British animation studio based in Bristol, England, United Kingdom. It is known for films and television series made using stop motion and clay animation techniques, particularly those fe ...

, who wrote on Twitter that Harryhausen was "a one-man industry and a one-man genre". The BBC also quoted ''

Shaun of the Dead ''Shaun of the Dead'' is a 2004 zombie comedy film directed by Edgar Wright and written by Wright and Simon Pegg. Pegg stars as Shaun, a downtrodden London salesman who is caught alongside his loved ones in a zombie apocalypse. It also star ...

'' director

Edgar Wright Edgar Howard Wright (born 18 April 1974) is an English filmmaker. He is known for his fast-paced and kinetic, satirical Film genre, genre films, which feature extensive utilisation of expressive popular music, Steadicam tracking shots, dolly zo ...

: "I loved every single frame of Ray Harryhausen's work ... He was the man who made me believe in monsters." In a full statement released by the family, George Lucas said, "Without Ray Harryhausen, there would likely have been no ''Star Wars''".

Terry Gilliam Terrence Vance Gilliam ( ; born 22 November 1940) is an American-British filmmaker, comedian, collage film, collage animator, and actor. He gained stardom as a member of the Monty Python comedy troupe alongside John Cleese, Eric Idle, Michael Pa ...

said, "What we do now digitally with computers, Ray did digitally long before but without computers. Only with his digits." James Cameron said, "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." John Walsh, author of '' Harryhausen: The Lost Movies'', calls Harryhausen "the most influential stop-motion animator and special-effects wizard in cinema history." In November 2016 the

BFI The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, d ...

compiled a list of those present-day filmmakers who claim to have been inspired by Harryhausen, including

Joe Dante Joseph James Dante Jr. (; born November 28, 1946) is an American film director. His films—notably ''Gremlins'' (1984) alongside its sequel, ''Gremlins 2: The New Batch'' (1990)—often mix the 1950s-style B movie genre with Counterculture of th ...

Tim Burton Timothy Walter Burton (born August 25, 1958) is an American filmmaker and producer. Known for popularizing Goth subculture, Goth culture in the American film industry, Burton is famous for his Gothic film, gothic horror and dark fantasy films. ...

, and

Guillermo del Toro Guillermo del Toro Gómez (; born 9 October 1964) is a Mexican filmmaker, author, and artist. His work has been characterized by a strong connection to fairy tales, Gothic fiction, gothicism and horror fiction, horror often blending the genres ...

. Others influenced by him include

John Lasseter John Alan Lasseter ( ; born January 12, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and animator. He was previously the chief creative officer of Pixar Animation Studios, Walt Disney Animation Studios, and Disneytoon Studios, a ...

J. J. Abrams Jeffrey Jacob Abrams (born June 27, 1966) is an American filmmaker and composer. He is best known for his works in the genres of action, drama, and science fiction. Abrams wrote and produced films such as '' Regarding Henry'' (1991), '' Forever ...

Wes Anderson Wesley Wales Anderson (born May 1, 1969) is an American filmmaker. Wes Anderson filmography, His films are known for themes of grief, loss of innocence, and dysfunctional families. Due to his films' eccentricity, distinctive visual and narrative ...

Robert Rodriguez Robert Anthony Rodriguez ( ; born June 20, 1968) is an American filmmaker, composer, and visual effects supervisor. He shoots, edits, produces, and scores many of his films in Mexico and in his home state of Texas. Rodriguez directed the 1992 ...

, special effects supervisors

Phil Tippett Phil Tippett (born September 27, 1951) is an American film director and visual effects supervisor and producer, who specializes in creature design, stop-motion and computerized character animation. Over his career, he has assisted ILM and Drea ...

, and

Dennis Muren Dennis Muren, A.S.C (born November 1, 1946) is an American film visual effects artist and supervisor. He has worked on the films of George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, and James Cameron, among others, and has won nine Oscars in total: eight for Bes ...

,Visual Effects Society narrator, "Lifetime Achievement Award" presentation, February 11, 2007 and video game creator

David Jaffe David Scott Jaffe (born April 13, 1971) is an American video game, video game designer best known for directing the ''Twisted Metal'' and God of War (franchise), ''God of War'' series. In 2009, he was chosen by IGN as one of the top 100 game cr ...

Foundation

Harryhausen left his collection, which includes all of his film-related artifacts, to the Ray & Diana Harryhausen Foundation, which he set up in 1986 to look after his extensive collection, to protect his name and to further the art of model stop-motion animation. The trustees are his daughter Vanessa Harryhausen, Simon Mackintosh, actress

Caroline Munro Caroline Jane Munro ( ; born 16 January 1949)McFarlane, Brian (28 February 2014). ''The Encyclopedia of British Film: Fourth edition''. Oxford University Press. p. 538; is an English actress, model and singer known for her many appearances in ...

, who appeared in ''

'' and film maker John Walsh, who first met Harryhausen in 1988 as a student at the

London Film School London Film School (LFS) is a film school in London, United Kingdom, and is situated in Covent Garden, London, neighbouring Soho, a hub of the UK film industry. It is the oldest film school in the UK.

and made the documentary ''Ray Harryhausen: Movement Into Life'', narrated by ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...

'' actor

Tom Baker Thomas Stewart Baker (born 20 January 1934) is an English actor and writer. He is best known for having played the Fourth Doctor, fourth and longest-serving incarnation of The Doctor (Doctor Who), the Doctor in the science fiction television ...

. The foundation's website charts progress on the restoration of the collection and plans for Harryhausen's legacy. In 2013, the RH foundation and Arrow Films released a feature-length biography of Harryhausen and his films, ''Ray Harryhausen – Special Effects Titan'', on Blu-Ray. Featuring photos, artifacts, and film clips culled directly from Harryhausen's estate and never before seen by the public, the film was initially released only in the U.K., but was released on Blu-Ray in the U.S. in 2016. In February 2016, John Walsh and Collections Manager Connor Heaney began a podcast about all things Harryhausen, from the films to the various composers involved on the productions. Occasionally the podcast features interviews with fans, as well as insights into Harryhausen's models from Foundation model conservator Alan Friswell. The podcast has featured

Mark Gatiss Mark Gatiss (; born 17 October 1966) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, director, producer and novelist. Best known for his acting work on stage and screen as well as for co-creating television shows with Steven Moffat, he has received ...

John Cairney John Cairney (16 February 1930 – 6 September 2023) was a Scottish stage, film and television actor who found fame through his one-man shows on Robert Burns, Robert Louis Stevenson, Robert Service, Charles Rennie Mackintosh and William McGo ...

, Caroline Munro, and Vanessa Harryhausen. Some of Harryhausen's models and artworks were showcased as part of the

Barbican Centre The Barbican Centre is a performing arts centre in the Barbican Estate of the City of London, England, and the largest of its kind in Europe. The centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings a ...

's 'Into the Unknown' exhibition from June 3 to September 1, 2017. To mark his 97th birthday on July 29, 2017, the Barbican posted a guest blog by Heaney, highlighting Harryhausen's lasting influence on science fiction. On June 5, 2017, it was announced that a major exhibition of Harryhausen's models, "Ray Harryhausen—Mythical Menagerie", would take place at the

Science Museum Oklahoma Science Museum Oklahoma is a science museum located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The museum features several notable attractions, including the new Love's Planetarium, the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame, and various specialized galleries. W ...

. The exhibition opened on July 29.

USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...

called it "one of best museum exhibits in the U.S. this fall". In 2018 the exhibition was nominated for a

Rondo Hatton Rondo Hatton (April 22, 1894 – February 2, 1946) was an American journalist and actor. After writing for ''The Tampa Tribune'', Hatton found a career in film due to his unique facial features, which were the result of acromegaly. He headlin ...

Award for "Best Live Event". An exhibition at

Tate Britain Tate Britain, known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery, is an art museum on Millbank in the City of Westminster in London, England. It is part of the Tate network of galleries in En ...

from June 26 to November 19, 2017, features work from the Harryhausen collection and short film made by John Walsh on the restoration of a painting owned by Harryhausen which influenced his work. In September 2018,

Titan Books Titan Publishing Group is the publishing division of the British entertainment company Titan Entertainment, which was established as Titan Books in 1981. The books division has two main areas of publishing: film and television tie-ins and cine ...

published ''Harryhausen – The Movie Posters'' by author Richard Holliss, focusing on the various movie posters associated with Harryhausen's films from across the globe. In September 2019, Foundation trustee, Titan Books published a new book by Walsh, Harryhausen: The Lost Movies which delves into the hidden treasures of Ray's unrealised film projects. On the 15th September, a book launch and signing event was held at the

Forbidden Planet ''Forbidden Planet'' is a 1956 American science fiction action film from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, produced by Nicholas Nayfack and directed by Fred M. Wilcox (director), Fred M. Wilcox from a script by Cyril Hume that was based on a film story by ...

London Megastore, and was followed up with a 4K screening of ''The 7th Voyage of Sinbad''. In a podcast interview with BritFlicks, Walsh discussed his plans to further develop lost Ray Harryhausen film projects, which includes the follow-up to 1981's "Clash of the Titans", entitled "Force of the Trojans". An exhibition opened showing items from the Harryhausen collection at the

Valence House Museum Valence House Museum is the only surviving of the five manor houses of Dagenham. The timber-framed museum building, partially surrounded by a moat, is situated in Valence Park off Becontree Avenue, in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, L ...

on March 14, 2018. The exhibition was inspired by local man Alan Friswell, who worked with Ray Harryhausen on the creatures' restorations. It was funded by

Barking and Dagenham London Borough Council Barking and Dagenham London Borough Council, also known as Barking and Dagenham Council, is the local authority for the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in the United Ki ...

Centenary

In July 2018, it was announced that the largest ever exhibition of Harryhausen's models and artwork would take place at the

Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art National Galleries Scotland: Modern (the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art) is part of National Galleries Scotland, which is based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The Modern houses the collection of modern and contemporary art dating from about 1 ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, to mark the centenary of his birth. The exhibition was planned to run for a year, from October 2020 until September 2021. Ultimately, the exhibition was extended to end in February 2022. The exhibition was the subject of a

BBC iPlayer BBC iPlayer (stylised as iPLAYER or BBC iPLAYER) is a video on demand service from the BBC. The service is available Over-the-top media service, over-the-top on a wide range of devices, including Mobile phone, mobile phones and Tablet computer ...

documentary entitled ''Culture in Quarantine'', which featured interviews with Vanessa Harryhausen,

and

Martine Beswick Mary Rose Penso Beswick (born 26 September 1941) is a Jamaican-born British actress and model perhaps best known for her roles in two James Bond films, '' From Russia with Love'' (1963) and '' Thunderball'' (1965), who went on to appear in seve ...

, as well as footage from ''Ray Harryhausen: Movement into Life''. Many of Harryhausen's original latex models were repaired for this exhibition: in an interview with the

, Walsh said that "We’re restoring pieces as we go, trying to get things back as close to how people remember them as possible". It was also announced that Vanessa Harryhausen was writing a book to mark her father's centenary, to accompany the exhibition in Edinburgh. Also entitled '' Ray Harryhausen: Titan of Cinema'', the book looks back on his personal and professional life through Vanessa's 100 favourite objects from his collection, and contains contributions from

Rick Baker Richard Alan "Rick" Baker (born December 8, 1950) is a retired American special make-up effects creator and actor. He is mostly known for his creature designs and effects. Baker has won the Academy Award for Best Makeup a record seven times f ...

and others. In 2021, it was announced that

The Ray Harryhausen Award The Ray Harryhausen Awards are an annual film award for the best animated films of the previous year. Established by The Ray and Diana Harryhausen Foundation based in Edinburgh, the awards aim to recognise the achievements of contemporary anima ...

would be launched to celebrate Ray's influence on contemporary filmmakers and animators. The first awards ceremony took place on what would have been Ray's 102nd birthday, in June 2022. The movie ''

Mad God ''Mad God'' is a 2021 American adult stop-motion animated experimental horror film written, produced, and directed by Phil Tippett. Completed in 2021, it was produced over a period of 30 years. ''Mad God'' premiered at the Locarno Festival on ...

'' won the inaugural award for best feature film, and six other winners were selected across a range of categories.

The Gordon E. Sawyer Academy Award

During the 1980s and early 1990s, Harryhausen's fans who had graduated into the professional film industry started lobbying

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., with the stated goal of adva ...

to acknowledge Harryhausen's contribution to the film industry, and so, in 1992, the academy finally awarded him the Gordon E. Sawyer Award (effectively a lifetime achievement "Oscar") for "technological contributions

hich Ij () is a village in Golabar Rural District of the Central District in Ijrud County, Zanjan province, Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq ...

have brought credit to the industry", with actor

Tom Hanks Thomas Jeffrey Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is an American actor and filmmaker. Known for both his comedic and dramatic roles, he is one of the most popular and recognizable film stars worldwide, and is regarded as an American cultural icon. Ha ...

(as the Master of Ceremonies) and

(a friend from when they were both just out of high school) presenting the award to him. After the presentation to Harryhausen, actor Tom Hanks told the audience, "Some people say ''

Casablanca Casablanca (, ) is the largest city in Morocco and the country's economic and business centre. Located on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Chaouia (Morocco), Chaouia plain in the central-western part of Morocco, the city has a populatio ...

'' or ''

Citizen Kane ''Citizen Kane'' is a 1941 American Drama (film and television), drama film directed by, produced by and starring Orson Welles and co-written by Welles and Herman J. Mankiewicz. It was Welles's List of directorial debuts, first feature film. ...

''...I say '' Jason and the Argonauts'' is the greatest film ever made!"

Other awards and honors

* The work of Ray Harryhausen was celebrated in an exhibition at London's

Museum of the Moving Image The Museum of the Moving Image is a media museum located in a former building of the historic Astoria Studios (now Kaufman Astoria Studios), in the Astoria neighborhood of Queens in New York City. The museum originally opened in 1988 as the Am ...

(MOMI) in 1990. * In 2010 the main screening theater at Sony Pictures Digital Productions was named in honor of Harryhausen. * The Science Fiction Hall of Fame inducted Harryhausen in 2005, the first year it honored non-literary contributors. He received the annual British Fantasy Society Wagner Award in 2008 for his lifetime contribution to the genre. * On June 10, 2003, Harryhausen was honored with a star on the

Hollywood Walk of Fame The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a landmark which consists of 2,813 five-pointed terrazzo-and-brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in the Hollywood, Los Angeles, Hollywood dist ...

. * In 2005, Harryhausen received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the

Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival The Imagine Film Festival, formerly Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival, also known as Imagine Fantastic Film Festival or simply Imagine, is an annual film festival in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The festival was created in 1991 with a focus mainly on ...

. * Ray received an honorary

in June 2010 at a ceremony at the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

. His mask award was presented to him by filmmaker

. * In 2011, Harryhausen was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from the

. Harryhausen was later inducted into the Visual Effects Society Hall of Fame in 2018

Preservation

The

Academy Film Archive The Academy Film Archive is part of the Academy Foundation, established in 1944 with the purpose of organizing and overseeing the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' educational and cultural activities, including the preservation of mot ...

has preserved a number of Ray Harryhausen's films, including ''Guadalcanal'', ''How to Bridge a Gorge'', and ''The Story of Hansel and Gretel''.

In popular culture

Fan and filmmaker tributes to Harryhausen abound in many forms. * In the 1994 TV series ''

Spider-Man Spider-Man is a superhero in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appearance, first appeared in the anthology comic book ''Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August 1962) in ...

'', episode 5: "The Menace Of Mysterio"

says "Great! Now I've stepped into a Ray Harryhausen movie!" when he is in the final confrontation with

Mysterio Mysterio is the alias of several supervillains appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, the character first appeared in ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' #13 (June 1964). He is one of the super ...

and fights off some classic Greek monsters. * In the video game ''

Killer Instinct ''Killer Instinct'' is a series of fighting game, fighting video games originally created by Rare (company), Rare and published by Midway Games, Midway, Nintendo, and Microsoft Studios, Xbox Game Studios. The original Killer Instinct (1994 vide ...

'', three characters are Harryhausen-inspired, specifically Spinal, Eyedol, and Gargos. * The

Mythos Games Mythos Games was a British video game developer company founded by Julian Gollop and Nick Gollop in 1988 as Target Games. It is best known for its 1994 strategy game '' UFO: Enemy Unknown'' (released in North America as ''X-Com: UFO Defense''), w ...

Virgin Interactive Entertainment Avalon Interactive Group, Ltd., formerly known as Virgin Interactive Entertainment, was a British video game distributor based within Europe that formerly traded as the video game publishing and distributing division of British conglomerate the V ...

computer game ''

Magic and Mayhem ''Magic & Mayhem'' (working title: ''Duel: The Mage Wars'') is a fantasy/mythology-themed real-time strategy game designed by Julian Gollop and developed by Mythos Games. It was published by Virgin Interactive Entertainment (European release) i ...

'' (1999) features over 25

mythological creatures that were inspired by Harryhausen's work. Constructed by special effects expert and stop-motion animator Alan Friswell, the various characters include a

dragon A dragon is a Magic (supernatural), magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but European dragon, dragons in Western cultures since the Hi ...

, a

centaur A centaur ( ; ; ), occasionally hippocentaur, also called Ixionidae (), is a creature from Greek mythology with the upper body of a human and the lower body and legs of a horse that was said to live in the mountains of Thessaly. In one version o ...

, a

griffin The griffin, griffon, or gryphon (; Classical Latin: ''gryps'' or ''grypus''; Late and Medieval Latin: ''gryphes'', ''grypho'' etc.; Old French: ''griffon'') is a -4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk ...

and a fighting skeleton. For the griffin's wing animation, Friswell studied the griffin from ''

'' (1974). Friswell subsequently worked for the Ray and Diana Harryhausen Foundation, restoring many of the original animation models used in Harryhausen's films. Friswell still holds the position of official restorer for the Foundation. * The 1992 comedy-horror film ''

Army of Darkness ''Army of Darkness'' is a 1992 American dark fantasy comedy film directed, co-written, and co-edited by Sam Raimi. The film is the third installment in the Evil Dead, ''Evil Dead'' film series and the sequel to ''Evil Dead II'' (1987). Starring ...

'' features the titular army resembling the army of skeletons from ''Jason and the Argonauts''. * In the 2001

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

Pixar Pixar (), doing business as Pixar Animation Studios, is an American animation studio based in Emeryville, California, known for its critically and commercially successful computer-animated feature films. Pixar is a subsidiary of Walt Disney ...

animated Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby image, still images are manipulated to create Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on cel, transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and e ...

film ''

Monsters, Inc. ''Monsters, Inc.'' (also known as ''Monsters, Incorporated'') is a 2001 American animated comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. Featuring the voices of John Goodman, Billy Crystal, Steve Buscemi, James Cobu ...

'' pays homage to Harryhausen in a scene where James P. "Sulley" Sullivan,

Mike Wazowski Michael "Mike" Wazowski is a fictional character who appears in Disney/Pixar's '' Monsters Inc.'' franchise. He is a green one-eyed round monster with two arms, legs, and small horns. In the films, Mike is one of the two protagonists, alongside ...

, Boo,

Celia Mae This is a list of characters from the Disney/Pixar media franchise ''Monsters, Inc.'', including the 2001 film ''Monsters, Inc.'', the 2013 film ''Monsters University'', and the 2021 Disney+ series ''Monsters at Work''. Appearing in both films ...

and other

monster A monster is a type of imaginary or fictional creature found in literature, folklore, mythology, fiction and religion. They are very often depicted as dangerous and aggressive, with a strange or grotesque appearance that causes Anxiety, terror ...

s visit a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

and

sushi is a traditional Japanese dish made with , typically seasoned with sugar and salt, and combined with a variety of , such as seafood, vegetables, or meat: raw seafood is the most common, although some may be cooked. While sushi comes in n ...

restaurant A restaurant is an establishment that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and Delivery (commerce), food delivery services. Restaurants ...

named Harryhausen's in Monstropolis. *

considers his satiric

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

movie ''

Mars Attacks! ''Mars Attacks!'' is a 1996 American science fiction film, science fiction black comedy, black comedy film directed by Tim Burton, who also co-produced it with Larry J. Franco. The screenplay by Jonathan Gems was based on the Topps trading ca ...

'' (1996) to be a tribute to Harryhausen, especially in a scene in which one of the hostile Martians'

flying saucer A flying saucer, or flying disc, is a purported type of disc-shaped unidentified flying object (UFO). The term was coined in 1947 by the United States (US) news media for the objects pilot Kenneth Arnold UFO sighting, Kenneth Arnold claimed fl ...

s chops down the Washington Monument by crashing into it, just as Harryhausen had done in his movie '' Earth vs. the Flying Saucers'' in 1956. * In 2007, fantasy comic book author/illustrator Stephen D. Sullivan dedicated his novel ''Warrior's Bones'' to Harryhausen and comic book creator Stan Lee. "For stoking the fires of my imagination." In the book, which is part of the ''Dragonlance: The New Adventures'' series, the heroine must battle a rampaging clockwork giant. * The ''Gravity Falls'' episode "Little Gift Shop of Horrors" (specifically the "Clay Day" segment), has several references to Ray Harryhausen and his work. * In the 2005 film ''Corpse Bride'', while Victor is at Victoria's house, he plays the piano, which is labelled as a "Harryhausen". * The 2007 song "Worried About Ray" by English pop rock band the Hoosiers is inspired by and is about Harryhausen. * A short clay-animation film, "Martian Peen Worm" (here abridged from a much longer title) made in the 1970s in Texas by Ivan Stang of Church of the SubGenius fame, refers to the worm at one stage of its growth-development as a "Nesuahyrrah" (Harryhausen spelled backwards). * Another 17-minute short film made in 2005, "Southwestern Orange County vs. the Flying Saucers", uses identical saucer models to Harryhausen's similarly titled 1956 alien invasion movie. * In ''The Venture Bros.'' Season 4 Episode 5 "The Revenge Society", Red Mantle sarcastically compares Phantom Limb to Ray Harryhausen. Harryhausen is also mentioned in Season 5 Episode 2 "Spanikopita!" by Billy Quizboy's nemesis, Augustus St. Cloud, who shows off the movie prop Bubo, from '' Clash of the Titans'', stating "Harryhausen's a friend." * Harryhausen was the subject of the song ''Monster'', the title track of former The Stranglers, Stranglers singer Hugh Cornwell's 2018 solo album. * In March 1983, Harryhausen participated in a special one-day event at Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Mann's Chinese Theater celebrating the 50th anniversary of premiere screening of the 1933 ''King Kong'' in the same theater. Visual effects technicians from several film-effects facilities recreated the life-sized bust of Kong as it appeared in the theater's outer lobby area 50 years earlier. The August 1983 issue of ''American Cinematographer'' features three articles about the event. *The 2013 film ''Pacific Rim (film), Pacific Rim'' included a dedication to "monster masters Ray Harryhausen and Ishirō Honda".

Filmography

Feature films and creatures animated

* '' Mighty Joe Young'' (1949, First technician) ** Mighty Joe Young * ''

'' (1953, Visual effects) ** Rhedosaurus * ''

'' (1955, Visual effects) ** It (Giant Octopus) * '' The Animal World'' (1956, Effects technician, documentary) ** Brontosaurus ** Allosaurus ** Brontosaurus Hatchling ** Stegosaurus ** Ceratosaurus ** Triceratops ** Tyrannosaurus * '' Earth vs. the Flying Saucers'' (1956, Special photographic/animation effects) ** Flying Saucers * ''

'' (1957, Visual effects) ** Spaceship ** Ymir ** Elephant * ''

'' (1958, Associate producer, visual effects) ** Cyclops ** 2-Horned Cyclops ** Snake Woman (Naga) ** Roc Hatchling ** Roc ** Skeleton ** Dragon * ''

'' (1960, Visual effects) ** Squirrel ** Crocodile * ''

'' (1961, Special visual effects) ** Crab ** Phorusrhacos ** Cephalopod ** Bee * '' Jason and the Argonauts'' (1963, Associate producer, visual effects) ** Talos ** Harpies ** Hydra ** Skeleton Army ("Children of the Hydra’s Teeth") * ''

'' (1964, Associate producer, visual effects) ** Moonship ** Space Sphere ** Moon Cow ** Kate Calendar’s Skeleton ** Selenite ** Grand Lunar * ''

'' (1966, Special visual effects) ** Brontosaurus ** Archelon ** Allosaurus ** Triceratops ** Tyrannosaurus ** Pterodactylus ** Rhamphorhynchus ** Pterodactylus Hatchlings * ''

'' (1969, Associate producer, visual effects) ** Horse ** Eohippus ** Pteranodon ** Ornithomimus ** Gwangi ** Styracosaurus ** Elephant * ''

'' (1973, Producer, visual effects) ** Homunculus ** Figurehead ** Kali (Goddess of Death) ** Centaur ** Griffin * ''

'' (1977, Producer, visual effects) ** Ghouls ** Baboon ** Minaton ** Hornet ** Walrus ** Troglodyte ** Guardian of the Shrine * '' Clash of the Titans'' (1981, Producer, visual effects) ** Vulture ** Pegasus ** Calibos ** Bubo (The Mechanical Owl) ** Dioskilos ** Medusa ** Scorpions ** Kraken

Short films

* ''How to Bridge a Gorge'' (also known as ''How to Build a Bridge'') (1942) (producer) * ''Tulips Shall Grow'' (1942) (chief animator) – part of George Pal's Puppetoons * ''Guadalcanal'' (1943) (director, 10 minutes) * ''Mother Goose Stories'' (1946) (producer) (silent with text) * ''The Story of Little Red Riding Hood'' (1949) (producer, animator) * ''The Story of Rapunzel'' (1951) (producer) * ''The Story of Hansel and Gretel'' (1951) (producer) * ''The Story of King Midas'' (1953) (producer) * ''The Story of The Tortoise & the Hare'' (2002) (director, co-producer, animator) (production begun in 1953)

Interviews and acting

* ''

'' (1957) – Man Feeding Elephant (uncredited) * ''The Fantasy Film World of Ray Harryhausen'' (1983) – interview (reissued as ''Aliens, Dragons, Monsters & Me'' in 1986 and 1990) * ''

'' (1985) – Dr. Marston * ''The Fantasy Film Worlds of George Pal'' (1985) – interview * ''Ray Harryhausen: Movement Into Life'' (1989) – interview made by Ray Harryhausen Foundation Trustee John Walsh * ''

'' (1994) – Bar Patron #2 * ''The Harryhausen Chronicles'' (1997) – interview * '' Mighty Joe Young'' (1998) – Gentleman at Party * ''

'' (2003) – Polar Bear Cub (voice) * ''Trail of the Screaming Forehead'' (2007) – himself – presenter * ''The Boneyard Collection'' (2008) – himself (segment "Her Morbid Desires") * '' Burke & Hare'' (2010) – Distinguished Doctor (final film role) * ''Ray Harryhausen: Special Effects Titan'' (2011) – interview * ''MENTALLUSIONS: Radical Eclectic Films of Benjamin Meade'' (2012) – himself

Unrealized projects

* ''The War of the Worlds'' (1949): Based on the H.G. Wells novel of the same name, the plot involves Victorian England being invaded by Martians. In later drafts, the Martians invade earth in present-day America. This would later on be made into a The War of the Worlds (1953 film), movie by Ray's friend George Pal in 1953. * ''Skin and Bones'' (1963): Based on the novel by Thorne Smith, it is a comedic tale about a photographer whose experiments with chemicals lead him to discover a form of invisibility, except for his skeleton. * ''The 8th Voyage of Sinbad: Return to Colossa'' (2007): In an interview with for ''The Guardian'', John Walsh said he "was taken aback by the scale of unrealized artwork that reveals new worlds, epic tales and fearsome creatures." *''The People of the Mist'', based on the novel by H. Rider Haggard, with Michael Winner as the director.Cinefantastique Magazine Volume 31 #1/2 February 1999 (page 94)
/ref>

Notes

References

Bibliography

* ''Starlog'' December 1977 no. 10, "Ray Harryhausen" by Richard Meyers * ''Starlog'' November 1985 no. 100, "Ray Harryhausen: The Man Who Works Miracles" by Steve Swires * ''Starlog'' February 1988 no. 127, "Ray Harryhausen: Farewell to Fantasy Films" by Steve Swires * ''Starlog Spectacular'' 1990 no. 1, "A Kind of Magic" interview by Stan Nicholls * ''Movie Star'' (Germany) February 1997 no. 25/26, "Ray Harryhausen Trickfilmzauberer" by Uwe Sommerlad * ''L'Eepress'' (France) December 2000 no. 2580, Les effets speciaux doivent donner a rever. Rencontre avec Ray Harryhausen, maitre du genre dont "Jason et les Argonauts ressort" by Arnaud Malherle * ''Filmfax Magazine'' March 2001 no. 83, "The Many Worlds of Ray Harryhausen" by Michael Stein * ''Pranke'' (Germany) March 2005 Vol. no. 27, "Interview with Ray Harryhausen" by Martin Stadler * ''Onion'' March 21, 2006, "Ray Harryhausen" interview by Christopher Bahn * ''Monster Bash Magazine'' December 2007 no. 7, "20 Million Miles to Harryhausen" by Lawrence Fultz Jr. * ''Van Helsing's Journal'' April, 2011 no. 12, "A Conversation with Harryhausen" by Lawrence Fultz Jr. * ''Film Fantasy Scrapbook'' by Ray Harryhausen (1972) * ''From the Land Beyond Beyond: The Making of the Movie Monsters You've Known and Loved – The Films of Willis O' Brien and Ray Harryhausen'' by

(1977) * ''Ray Harryhausen: An Animated Life'' by Ray Harryhausen and Tony Dalton, foreword by Ray Bradbury (2003) * ''The Dinosaur Films of Ray Harryhausen'' by Roy P. Webber, forewords by Jim Aupperle and Bill Maylone (2004; a 2nd edition will be available in 2025) * ''The Art of Ray Harryhausen'' by Ray Harryhausen and Tony Dalton, foreword by

(2005) * ''A Century of Model Animation: From Méliès to Aardman'' by Ray Harryhausen and Tony Dalton (2008) * ''Ray Harryhausen: A Life in Pictures'' by Tony Dalton, foreword by

, final word by Ray Bradbury (2010) * ''Ray Harryhausen's Fantasy Scrapbook'' by Ray Harryhausen and Tony Dalton, foreword by

(2011) * ''Ray Harryhausen: Master of the Majicks'' by Mike Hankin, three volumes (an updated version of all three books is currently pending) * ''Harryhausen: The Movie Posters'' by Richard Hollis (2018) * '' Harryhausen: The Lost Movies'' by John Walsh (2019)