Yesterday the world of cinema lost film legend, Ray Harryhausen. His works, largely circulating around movie monsters, made countless classics and inspired the works of James Cameron, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, John Landis, Nick Park and more. George Lucas once said, "Without Ray Harryhausen, there would likely have been no Star Wars."
Inspired by the works of Willis O'Brien whose works namely include the masterpiece, King Kong. O'Brien mentored Ray for awhile and eventually encouraged him to pursue art and sculpture. That was around when Harryhausen became friends with Ray Bradbury, who at the time was an aspiring writer who would later become lifelong friends.
The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms became his first major work in 1953. From there he would go on to create some of the most impressive and critically praised special effects to be featured in cinematic history which he not only animated but often wrote himself. His works include, Clash of the Titans, The Valley of Gwangi, The Voyages of Sinbad, Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, It Came from Beneath the Sea and, my personal favorite, Jason and the Argonauts.
Cinema has taken a great blow. Harryhausen was one of the people who inspired me to get into movies and I'm not sure if anyone could ever fill his shoes. He certainly left his mark on film history.
I'm generally pretty morbid about the future of movies and how these days filmmakers cheap-out with CG but I'm not going to get into any of that today. I just wanted to say a few words and to take some time to remember that visionary. Rest in Peace, Ray Harryhausen, you will be missed.
7/29/20 - 05/07/13
"I think all of us who are practioners 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." - James Cameron
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