RAY HARRYHAUSEN, R.I.P. (1920-2013)

 

Born in Los Angeles, he began experimenting with animated science-fiction shorts after being inspired by “King Kong” and meeting the film’s animator Willis O’Brien. He began taking classes in sculpture and graphic arts, and after meeting writer Ray Bradbury, joined the Science Fiction League formed by Forrest J. Ackerman that met at Clifton’s Cafeteria in Los Angeles. The trio formed a friendship that lasted until their deaths.

Harryhausen began his career in the mid ’30s with  “Cavebear” and various short films featuring dinosaurs. For the next decade, he worked on short films and various ad campaigns for television and films. His first commercial job was on George Pal’s “Puppetoons” shorts. After serving under Col. Frank Capra during WWII as a camera assistant, he was hired to work as assistant animator with O’Brien on “Mighty Joe Young,” for which O’Brien won the Oscar for special effects for their work.

Harryhausen bought the rights to Bradbury’s “The Foghorn,” about a dinosaur that rises from the ocean,  and used it for his 1953 pic “The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms.” It was his first solo effort and proved a hit, establishing him as a force in sci-fi and fantasy filmmaking.  He turned from creature features to fantasy pics such as 1958′s “The 7th Voyage of Sinbad,” 1959′s “The 3 Worlds of Gulliver,” 1963′s “Jason and the Argonauts,” 1966′s “One Million Years B.C.” and 1981′s “Clash of the Titans.”

Harryhausen sculpted and painted models, then constructed highly choreographed action sequences that were performed separately by actors and his puppets. He then used innovative photographic techniques to integrate the puppets with the actors.