Ray Harryhausen
An Animated Life

Inspired by the film King Kong, at the age of thirteen Ray Harryhausen knew his feature lay in special effects.

Following on from his mentor Willis O'Brien, creator of King Kong, Ray took the art and skill of stop-motion animation one step further, weaving his magic on dinosaurs, aliens and mythological creatures alike. From animating fairy tales in his father's garage to creating groundbreaking effects for blockbuster movies, Ray tells the fascinating story of his 'animated life'.

The last great animator before the introduction of CGI, he takes us through the pleasures and pitfalls of sixty years dedicated to making movie magic. Learn how Raquel Welch was picked up by a flying dinosaur in One Million Years B.C., why the octopus in Mysterious Island was only a sixtopus, and what Medusa's blood was made from in Clash of the Titans. From the flying harpies in Jason and the Argonauts to battling skeletons in The 7th Voyage of Sinbad. Ray explains the films' journeys from original concepts through to the critics' reviews.

Anecdotal, insightful and honest, An Animated Life features hundreds of photos from Ray's personal archive. It explains the basics of special effects and stop-motion animation, what it was like to work with actors including Laurence Olivier, Maggie Smith and Lionel Jeffries, and how his creations were the real stars of the movies. Ray Harryhausen is one of the most innovative and influential film animators in the history of the medium. The winner of countless awards and a star on the Hollwood Walk of Fame, he has inspired numerous film-makers including Stephen Spielberg, George Lucas and James Cameron.

Tony Dalton is a writer and film historian who has known Ray Harryhausen for over thirty years. They have collaborated on two other books published by Autum, The Art of Ray Harryhausen and A Century of Model Animation.