Ray Harryhausen, the Hollywood special-effects master who was considered the king of stop-motion animation, died Tuesday in London, his family has confirmed. He was 92. Harryhausen, born in Los Angeles in 1920, said he was inspired by the effects in 1933’s King Kong. In a time before digital special effects, Harryhausen used a process where he made slight adjustments to his three-dimensional, ball-and-socket jointed scale models, and then shot them frame-by-frame to create the illusion of movement. His credits include films such as The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms, Jason and the Argonauts, and Clash of the Titans. “The art of his earlier films, which most of us grew up on, inspired us so much,” said Star Wars creator George Lucas. “Without Ray Harryhausen, there would have been no Star Wars.”
