Ray Harryhausen 1920 – 2013
It is possible that I would have ventured into the entertainment industry if my dad had not taken me to the drive-in to see One Million Years B.C., but he did. I was nine years old, and I became obsessed with the man who had created the dinosaurs that shared the barren prehistoric landscape along with John Richardson and Raquel Welch. I didn’t know how he did it, what he looked like or even how to pronounce his name, but I knew I wanted to be Ray Harryhausen.
The Grandmaster of stop-motion animation died last week. I haven’t had time to write a proper tribute, but rather than wait a year (as I did when Ray Bradbury passed away) I wanted to post images of things I never would have built, directed or drawn if not for Harryhausen.
Let’s not forget “Jason and the Argonauts” — the skeleton army grown from dragon’s teeth were awesome. A lot of characters to juggle.