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The Fairviewer

The news site of Verona High School

The Fairviewer

The news site of Verona High School

The Fairviewer

Remembering Ray Harryhausen: 1920 to 2013

When it comes to some of the most influential people in the movie business, stop motion animation wizard, Ray Harryhausen is at the top. Harryhausen, who provided the creature effects in the films It Came from Beneath the Sea, Earth vs. The Flying Saucers, Clash of the Titans, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, Jason and the Argonauts, and many others, died in his sleep recently in his London home at the age of 92.

Harryhausen, who was a maverick in the field of stop motion animation, the process of constructing and animating creature models one frame at a time, was born in California in 1920 to Fred and Marsha Harryhausen. Harryhausen found inspiration in the 1933 RKO classic King Kong. In an interview for a television documentary, Harryhausen explained, “My aunt got tickets to go see this strange picture called King Kong. So I went down with her and my mother to Grauman’s Chinese Theater and walked out a change person.”

Harryhausen spent months trying to figure out what technique brought the mighty King Kong to life and was shocked when he found out that the mighty Kong was only 18 inches tall and was brought to life using a technique called stop motion animation. Kong’s stop motion animation came from the creative brain of Willis O’Brien, the man responsible for bringing the technique to life. O’ Brien became Harryhausen’s hero soon after and he began experimenting with stop motion animation himself in his father’s garage.

When Harryhausen was 18 he had his chance to meet his hero, Willis O’Brien. O’ Brien gave the young Harryhausen some much needed advice after he showed him his prized stegosaurus model. “He told me that my stegosaurus’s legs looked like sausages and I needed to study anatomy.”

O’ Brien became sort of a second father to Harryhausen and would bring Harryhausen onto the 1947 production of Mighty Joe Young. After his stint with O’ Brien ended Harryhausen stuck out on his own and was hired to create the title creature in The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, based on a short story by science fiction author and best friend Ray Bradbury.  After, this Harryhausen would send shock waves through the movie industry with films like, 20 Million Miles to Earth, Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, Jason and the Argonauts, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, Clash of the Titans, The Valley of Gwangi and many others.

Harryhausen’s influence has been championed by such famous directors and special effects creators as, Peter Jackson, Dennis Murrin, George Lucas, Phil Tippet, Tom Hanks, and many others. In speech a spoken at the Academy Awards, Tom Hanks said, “Some say Casablanca, or Citizen Kane are the greatest movies ever made, but I say Jason and the Argonauts is the greatest movie ever made.” Clearly Harryhausen’s influence has been felt the world over.

With the announcement of his death, a sudden feel of sadness struck the movie business. It was also announced that a special “Ray Day” will be held on June 16th to celebrate the life and career of Ray Harryhausen. Simon Pegg, star of Shaun of the Dead and Star Trek, tweeted, “Ray Harryhausen an inspiration and a legend, even before he left us. His influence cannot be measured and has shaped cinema as we know it.”

George Lucas also added, “Ray has been a great inspiration to us all in the special visual industry. The art of his earlier films, which most of us grew up on, inspired us so much. Without Ray Harryhausen, there would likely have been no Star Wars”.

Peter Jackson, who was a close friend of Harryhausen, added, “The Lord of the Rings is my Ray Harryhausen movie. Without his lifelong love of his wondrous images and storytelling it would never have been made — not by me, at least.” It is clear that Harryhausen’s influence was felt by many. The man may be gone, but his memories and his films that many of us cherish and love will go on forever.

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