Ray Harryhausen's Stop-Motion Animation: How He Made The Films We Loved

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Ray Harryhausen (1920-2013) animating Skeleton model (The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, 1958) © The Ray and Diana Harryhausen Foundation (Charity No. SC001419)

With Jason and the Argonauts, Clash of the Titans, One Million B.C., and three Sinbad movies, stop-motion animator Ray Harryhausen created fantasy worlds that enchanted young moviegoers in the pre-CGI age. Before the advent of complex digital effects, the monsters and magic of cinema had to be created physically, and no one was better at realizing our fantasies like Ray Harryhausen. One of the few (if not only) household names when it comes to special effects and fantasy films in the groovy era, Harryhausen made some of the most beloved films of the 20th century. 

Ray Harryhausen worked near single handedly to make his most fantastic creations. He designed, sculpted, painted, and filmed a skeletal army, a massive cyclops, and the fearsome Medusa, and along the way he changed cinema forever.