Next time we'll look back at the greatest American monster movie and how it put no doubt in Ray's mind what path he wanted to travel the for rest of his life. But the biggest film was yet to come for Ray. Others milestone pictures were Fritz Lang's " Siegfried" (1924) - the original Dungeons and Dragons epic, and " Metropolis" (1926) - possibly the most influential film of the silent era. The first film to leave a huge impression was " The Lost World" (1925) and it's stop motion dinosaurs. Ray can remember being all of three and sitting on a parent's lap, mesmerized by the flickering images. Perhaps it can be said that Dore was the first real art director of the movies." Unquestionably, Dore's illustrations of classic texts, including Dante's "Inferno", Milton's "Paradise Lost", and Cervantes' Don Quixote have inspired how we all visualize these works today, especially his magnificent work for the classic fables.Īnd, of course, it was movies that had the biggest effect of all on Ray. Ray explaining what made Dore so unique: "He instilled a theatricality into his illustrations that lent themselves so well to cinema compositions and in turn explains why many motion picture art directors were influenced by his engravings. Many artists would directly influence Ray's work, but the greatest inspiration came from Gustave Dore. As Ray puts it: "They never tried to discourage me in any way with my obsession, and could have just as easily said: 'Get out of here and be a doctor or a lawyer or follow some other profession that is going to bring in money.' Fortunately, they didn't." Ray soon was telling his own stories, experimenting with models and animation and his parents were nothing but enthused. It's clear that Ray Harryhausen's parents made sure to nurture in him a passion for the arts and Ray loved it all: novels, paintings, and the theater. His father would eventually build Ray a camera crane to use specifically for stop motion. He watched his father develop and patent various inventions including a folding trunk rack for the increasingly popular automobile. His father's job as a freelance machinist also fascinated Ray. Having the most diverse assemblage of extinct Ice Age plants and animals in the world only increased Ray's obsession with prehistoric creatures.
also meant being just a short ride away from the one of the most famous fossil locals: the La Brea tar pits. Ray's favorite was arts and crafts, where he would usually obsess over creating dinosaurs.īeing in L.A. His mom would be more than happy to take him to museums or to a nearby park that offered different children's activities every day. Like most children, Ray was fascinated with dinosaurs. Ray was born June 29th, 1920 and would be Fred and Martha Harryhausen's only child. The Harryhausens eventually would work their way down California's coast, ending up in Los Angeles. Ray's grandfather arrived in San Francisco from Germany in 1850, occupation: gold miner. I feel, by the way, that we are living in the second golden age of animation, thanks mainly to Pixar and their passion for story coming before their passion of technology. The following is to praise the grandmaster of special effects and to show that his creations and his influences, had more creativity, skill, patience, and humanity then all of today's recent "live-action" blockbusters combined.
DEAD PRESIDENTS DANNY ELFMAN COMPLETE FULL
There was only Ray and his creations: warrior skeletons and colossal statues that came to life, a giant snake with eight hissing heads and a Medusa head full of eight hissing snakes. Harryhausen can't even be called a god, because that's still to imply he had equals. If you find any of the following interesting, I highly recommend picking it up.īefore computers and CGI effects there was stop motion and its king was Ray Harryhausen.
The majority of this history, and all quotes, come from the recently released coffee table book Ray Harryhausen: An Animated Life.
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