For a few years now I have wondered when the day would come that I would have to write this piece. Sadly, today is that day. Various media outlets are reporting that Ray Harryhausen passed away Tuesday.

Harryhausen was a huge influence on me as a child and teenager. When I first encountered his fantasy and science fiction films on television, the stop-motion animation had a profound impact upon my imagination. I dreamed of becoming a stop-motion animator, and to that end I saved my paper route money and purchased an 8mm camera with single frame capacity. I made several animation test films using jointed action figures and one from clay, and collected everything I could get my hands on that told the story of Harryhausen and the Dynamation magic he used to bring his creatures to life. Back in those days it was far more difficult to find fan material, but through a book dealer I was able to secure a copy of From the Land Beyond Beyond, as well as Film Fantasy Scrapbook. These volumes, coupled with the articles that would come out in publications like Starlog and Cinefantastique, were enough to feed my continual interest in Harryhausen and the stop-motion process. Today a number of books are available for fans, including Ray Harryhausen: An Animated Life, A Century of Stop Motion Animation, and The Art of Ray Harryhausen, not to mention the three volumes in the Ray Harryhausen Master of the Majicks collection available through Archive Editions.

Harryhausen’s influence is difficult to overstate. Many people currently involved in special effects, makeup, and film direction point to being captivated by his fantasy films which led to their career paths. In the wake of his death, Ray and Diana Harryhausen Foundation released this statement that includes tributes from genre notables:

Raymond Frederick Harryhausen

Born: Los Angeles 29th June 1920

Died: London 7th May 2013.

The Harryhausen family regret to announce the death of Ray Harryhausen, Visual Effects pioneer and stop-motion model animator. He was a multi-award winner which includes a special Oscar and BAFTA. Ray’s influence on today’s film makers was enormous, with luminaries; Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, Peter Jackson, George Lucas, John Landis and the UK’s own Nick Park have cited Harryhausen as being the man whose work inspired their own creations.

Harryhausen’s fascination with animated models began when he first saw Willis O’Brien’s creations in KING KONG with his boyhood friend, the author Ray Bradbury in 1933, and he made his first foray into filmmaking in 1935 with home-movies that featured his youthful attempts at model animation. Over the period of the next 46 years, he made some of the genres best known movies – MIGHTY JOE YOUNG (1949), IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA (1955), 20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH (1957), MYSTERIUOUS ISLAND (1961), ONE MILLION YEARS B.C. (1966), THER VALLEY OF GWANGI (1969), three films based on the adventures of SINBAD and CLASH OF THE TITANS (1981). He is perhaps best remembered for his extraordinary animation of seven skeletons in JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS (1963) which took him three months to film.

Harryhausen’s genius was in being able to bring his models alive. Whether they were prehistoric dinosaurs or mythological creatures, in Ray’s hands they were no longer puppets but became instead characters in their own right, just as important as the actors they played against and in most cases even more so.

Today The Ray & Diana Harryhausen Foundation, a charitable Trust set up by Ray on the 10th April 1986, is devoted to the protection of Ray’s name and body of work as well as archiving, preserving and restoring Ray’s extensive Collection.

Tributes have been heaped upon Harryhausen for his work by his peers in recent years.

“Ray has been a great inspiration to us all in special visual industry. The art of his earlier films, which most of us grew up on, inspired us so much.” “Without Ray Harryhausen, there would likely have been no STAR WARS.”

– George Lucas

“THE LORD OF THE RINGS is my ‘Ray Harryhausen movie’. Without his life-long love of his wondrous images and storytelling it would never have been made – not by me at least.”

– Peter Jackson

“In my mind he will always be the king of stop-motion animation.”

– Nick Park

“His legacy of course is in good hands because it’s carried in the DNA of so many film fans.”

– Randy Cook

“You know I’m always saying to the guys that I work with now on computer graphics “do it like Ray Harryhausen”

– Phil Tippett

“What we do now digitally with computers, Ray did digitally long before but without computers. Only with his digits.”

– Terry Gilliam

“His patience, his endurance have inspired so many of us.”

– Peter Jackson

“Ray, your inspiration goes with us forever.”

– Steven Spielberg

“I think all of us who are practioners in the arts of science fiction and fantasy movies now all feel that we’re standing on the shoulders of a giant.

If not for Ray’s contribution to the collective dreamscape, we wouldn’t be who we are.”

– James Cameron

It was not only those of a previous generation who found Harryhausen’s work captivating. A couple of years ago I came across two young boys dressed in plastic warrior garb, including swords and shields. I assumed they were acting out some Roman warrior film or cartoon they had seen, but their mother was quick to correct me. It turns out that their grandfather had recently shown them Jason and the Argonauts, and the young boys were dressed as argonauts in pursuit of the golden fleece! Every generation finds those who encounter Harryhausen’s work anew as it fills their imagination.

With the passing of Harryhausen, and the prior losses of Forrest J. Ackerman and Ray Bradbury, the monster kid generation has lost another hero. Goodbye, Mr. Harryhausen. I was never able to meet you personally, but you inspired me in profound ways. Thank you for bringing your creatures to life, and giving me a sense of wonder.