The legendary career of stop-motion and visual effects pioneer
Ray Harryhausen (born in 1920) is now being showcased in the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ new summer
exhibition “The Fantastical Worlds of Ray
Harryhausen,” which opened Friday, May 14th, in the
Academy’s Fourth Floor Gallery in Beverly Hills. Admission
is free.
For nearly three decades, Ray Harryhausen launched moviegoers
into the magical worlds of fantasy and adventure through action
sequences, largely self-executed, featuring prehistoric beasts,
aliens, giant sea creatures and mythological monsters.
With unprecedented access to the Ray Harryhausen collection, the
exhibition features original models, drawings, storyboards and
behind-the-scenes photographs demonstrating the animation and
visual effects processes that Harryhausen used to create many
iconic films, including “It Came from beneath the
Sea” (1955), “Earth vs. the Flying Saucers”
(1956), “The 7th Voyage of Sinbad” (1958),
“Jason and the Argonauts” (1963), “The 3 Worlds
of Gulliver” (1960), “One Million Years B.C.”
(1966) and “Clash of the Titans” (1981).
In 1991 the Academy awarded Ray Harryhausen its Gordon E. Sawyer
Award (an Oscar® statuette) for his technological
contributions to the industry, which included Dynamation, an
original technique that allowed armature models to be integrated
into live-action footage.
Ray ’retired’ from dimensional animation in 1984
although he has indulged himself occasionally in his work. Called
the father of stop-motion animation (he calls Willis
O’Brien the grandfather), he now lives in London with his
wife Diana and takes an avid and enthusiastic interest in The Ray
& Diana Harryhausen Foundation and how his extensive collection
of models, artwork, stills and miniatures are preserved and
exhibited into the future. Also opening on May 14th in the
Academy’s Grand Lobby Gallery is “Chuck Jones: An
Animator’s Life From A to Z-Z- Z-Z.” The exhibition
will feature Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, Pepe Le Pew,
Wile E. Coyote and many other iconic characters created or
developed by Oscar-winning animator and humorist Chuck Jones
(1912 - 2002). More than 150 drawings, storyboards, cels and
dialogue sheets will be on display.
“The Fantastical Worlds of Ray Harryhausen” and
“Chuck Jones...” continues through Sunday, August 22.
The Academy’s galleries are located at 8949 Wilshire
Boulevard in Beverly Hills and are open Tuesday through Friday,
10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and weekends, noon to 6 p.m. The galleries
will be closed for the Memorial Day (May 29 and 30) and
Independence Day (July 3 and 4) holiday weekends. For more
information call (310) 247-3600
www.rayharryhausen.com
© 2010, The Hollywood Sentinel, A.M.P.A.S.