A Reel Legend: Ray Harryhausen

This month’s Reel Legend is Ray Harryhausen. 

 

Perhaps the most influential and famous animator and special effects creator, Raymond Frederick Harryhausen was born in Los Angeles in 1920. He became fascinated with animation and filmmaking at an early age, inspired by the groundbreaking visual effects in KING KONG (1933), and THE LOST WORLD (1925). After studying art, anatomy, graphic arts and sculpture, he landed his first model-animation job, on a series of animated puppet films called PUPETOONS. 

 

After serving in WWII, he was hired as an assistant animator in his first major film, MIGHTY JOE YOUNG (1949). His first film where he was in complete charge of special effects was the monster horror film THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS (1953), which would be a box office hit. It was here where 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 stop-motion a model or models, seemingly integrating the live-action with the models. 

 

He would establish himself further by his most famous films, JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS (1963), and THE GOLDEN VOYAGE OF SINBAD (1974), where he wowed and dazzled audiences with dinosaurs, skeletons, dragons, and creatures from mythology. His famous battle with sword-fighting skeletons remains a landmark in stop-motion, live-action filmmaking. 

 

His further films would include FIRST MEN IN THE MOON (1964), ONE MILLION YEARS B.C. (1966), SINBAD AND THE EYE OF THE TIGER (1977), and CLASH OF THE TITANS (1981). His accolades include the honorary Gordon E. Sawyer Academy Award, an honorary BAFTA, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Visual Effects Society. He passed away in 2013 at the age of 92. 

 

*

 

This Blogger has fond memories of watching the SINBAD films on the Sunday Afternoon Matinee on WPIX with dad; being amazed at the creatures brought to life, and not even wondering how it was done because it was accepted as real. Today, there is a lot of talk around visual effects, specifically the issue of using practical effects or digital (CGI). This talk is more up front than ever this year, with THE ODYSSEY using some impressive practical techniques to amaze audiences and bring in the bucks. Whatever side anyone falls on, the debate would not be there without the work of Ray Harryhausen. His genius went beyond technical skill. His creatures had personality, emotion, and life-like movement that made audiences believe they existed in the live-action world. His films from 60 years ago can still dazzle, and without him, modern practical or CGI would not have a hill to fight over. 

 

His legacy is as enormous as the creatures and monsters he gave life to. He inspired generations of filmmakers and special effects artists, including Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, James Cameron, Guillermo del Toro, and Peter Jackson. He made the impossible feel real, and his monsters continue to live on in the movies they inspired. When Pixar’s MONSTER’S INC. (2001) named a five-star restaurant after him, it was a fitting tribute to a legendary, five-star monster-maker.