LONDON - When Ray Harryhausen was 13, he was so overwhelmed by "King Kong" that he vowed he would create otherworldly creatures on film. He fulfilled his desire as an adult, thrilling audiences with skeletons in a sword fight, a gigantic octopus destroying the Golden Gate Bridge, and a six-armed dancing goddess.
On Tuesday, Harryhausen died at London's Hammersmith Hospital. He was 92.
Biographer and longtime friend Tony Dalton confirmed the special-effects titan's death.
Though little known by the general public, Harryhausen made 17 movies that are cherished by devotees of film fantasy.
George Lucas, who borrowed some of Harryhausen's techniques for his "Star Wars" films, commented: "I had seen some other fantasy films before, but none of them had the kind of awe that Ray Harryhausen's movies had."
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Harryhausen's method was as old as the motion picture itself: stop motion. He sculpted characters from 3 inches to 15 inches tall and photographed them one frame at a time in continuous poses, thus creating the illusion of motion. In today's movies, such effects are achieved digitally.
Harryhausen admired the three-dimensional quality of modern digital effects, but he still preferred the old-fashioned way of creating fantasy.
His film work included "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad," "Jason and the Argonauts" "Earth vs. the Flying Saucers," "The Golden Voyage of Sinbad" and "Clash of the Titans."
On StarNet: See Ray Harryhausen's works at azstarnet.com/video
