Ray Harryhausen, the master of special effects, dies at 92

Pioneer of special effects and teacher of filmmakers such as Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, Peter Jackson and George Lucas, he leaves a technical legacy that has marked generations.

Ray Harryhausen, one of the great legends of the film industry and a great pioneer of special effects, died this week in London at the age of 92.

An Oscar and BAFTA winner, Harryhausen was a master of stop-motion animation in films such as Jason and the golden fleece, a film in which we all remember an extraordinary sword fight between seven skeletons. Harryhausen himself admitted in an interview that each skeleton barely measured 25 cm. animated frame by frame for four and a half months.

His fascination with animated models dates back to the work of Willis O'Brien, King Kong (1933), which he attended as a child with his friend Ray Bradbury, the famous science fiction writer and author of Fahrenheit 451. His technique consisted of the union of frame animation with rear projection, known as Dynamation, and is applied in most of his large projects such as The mysterious island y The fantastic journey of Sinbad.

Several producers and filmmakers were influenced by the artist, such as Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, Peter Jackson and George Lucas. “Without Ray Harryhausen, perhaps there would have been no Star Wars,” Lucas has even stated. New Zealander Peter Jackson considers The Lord of the Rings to be a tribute to Ray Harryhausen. “Without his eternal love for wonderful images and storytelling, the trilogy would never have been made, at least not on my part,” Jackson said.

Steven Spielberg, for his part, has stated that “Ray and his inspiration will stay with us forever.” James Cameron also praised the master, commenting that "all of us who make science fiction and fantasy films always feel like we stand on the shoulders of a giant. If it weren't for Ray's contribution, we wouldn't be what we are."