Ray Harryhausen

Full Name	Raymond Frederick Harryhausen
Date of Birth	29 June 1920
Date of Death	7 May 2013
Nationality	American British
Connection	Stop-motion pioneer

Raymond Frederick Harryhausen (June 29, 1920 to May 7, 2013) was perhaps the most famous and influential special effects artists in the field of stop-motion animation. He created countless film effects during the course of a career which spanned more than three decades, from 1949's Mighty Joe Young to the 1981 feature Clash of the Titans.

Overview

Ray Harryhausen was born in California during the year 1920. At age 13, Ray Harryhausen was first inspired by the 1933 special effects of Willis O'Brien's King Kong. Soon he began to create models of his own and developed an interest in various real and mythological creatures and animating them, a passion which would follow him throughout his career. After receiving advice from O'Brien, Harryhausen went to art school, where he learned how to perfect his abilities in sculpting and drawing. During these college years, Harryhausen created numerous test footage with models he created.

Screen Appearances

During the course of his career, Harryhausen gave numerous interviews, and made a small number of cameo appearances in films, including as a zoo patron in his 1953 film 20 Million Miles to Earth and a background appearance in the 1998 remake of his first feature film, the 1949 adventure Mighty Joe Young.

Selected Works

Feature Films

• Mighty Joe Young (1949)
• The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953)
• It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955)
• Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956)
• 20 Million Miles to Earth (1957)
• The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958)
• The 3 Worlds of Gulliver (1960)
• Mysterious Island (1961)
• Jason and the Argonauts (1963)
• First Men in the Moon (1964)
• One Million Years B.C. (1966)
• The Valley of Gwangi (1969)
• The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973)
• Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977)
• Clash of the Titans (1981)

Documentary Films

• "Guadalcanal" (1943)
• The Animal World (1956)

Shorts

• "The Story of 'Little Red Riding Hood'"(1949)
• "The Story of 'Hansel and Gretel'" (1951)

Unrealised Projects

• Evolution of the World (1940)
• Force of the Trojans (early 1980s)

Books

• Ray Harryhausen's Fantasy Scrapbook (1972, with Tony Dalton)
• Ray Harryhausen: An Animated Life (2003, with Tony Dalton)
• The Art of Ray Harryhausen (2005, with Tony Dalton)

Gallery

A dinosaur animation by Ray Harryhausen in his early years

Harryhausen with daughter Vanessa

Harryhausen with a model created by Arthur Hayward

Ray Harryhausen with the Medusa model

Harryhausen's first attempt at creating a marionette, a copy of Willis O'Brien's King Kong built with his mother