SFX master Ray Harryhausen 1920-2013

Ray Harryhausen, a special effects master whose animations of sword-wielding skeletons, dinosaurs, mythological beasts and other fantasy creations pioneered movie FX and transfixed generations of film fans, died Tuesday, May 7, 2013 at age 92.

Harryhausen worked as a special effects artist on such films as "Mighty Joe Young," "Earth vs. the Flying Saucers," "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms," "One Million Years B.C.," and a plethora of movies featuring Sinbad battling all manner of creatures.

By CBSNews.com senior producer David Morgan

AMPAS/Ray & Diana Harryhausen Foundation

Ray Harryhausen animating the Snakewoman from "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad."

As a youngster the Los Angeles native - a great-grandson of African explorer David Livingstone - was inspired by the fantasies of Willis O'Brien's special effects work for "The Lost World" and "King Kong."

"I used to make little clay models," Harryhausen recalled in 2001. "When I saw 'King Kong,' I saw a way to make those models move."

In the 1940s Ray Harryhausen did effects work for director George Pal's series of "Puppetoons," and later a series of the "Mother Goose Stories." He also worked with Frank Capra's film unit during World War II.

Left: Ray Harryhausen with the model of "Mighty Joe Young."

After World War II, Harryhausen worked with Willis O'Brien on the effects of the giant ape in "Mighty Joe Young" (1949). Harryhausen's method was as old as the motion picture itself: stop motion. He sculpted characters from 3 to 15 inches tall and photographed them one frame at a time in ever-changing poses, thus creating the illusion of life.

Left: Ray Harryhausen's model of the Rhedosaurus for the 1953 science fiction film "The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms," based on a Ray Bradbury story. The dinosaur, frozen in the Arctic Circle, is melted out of its icy prison thanks to Mankind's nuclear testing.

The monster of "The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms," which proceeds to terrorize cities, wreck ships and lighthouses, eat policemen, and cause general havoc. Animation by Ray Harryhausen.

In "It Came From Beneath the Sea" (1955), Ray Harryhausen's giant octopus terrorizes San Francisco.

The Golden Gate Bridge is little match for the tentacles of a giant octopus, in "It Came From Beneath the Sea" (1955).

In a change of pace from dinosaurs and monsters, for the 1956 science fiction film "Earth vs. the Flying Saucers," Ray Harryhausen animated the spaceships which are ultimately defeated by ray guns over the skies of Washington, D.C. The ships conveniently crash into such landmarks as the Washington Monument and the Capitol building.

The Ymir, a form of life carried via spaceship from the planet Venus, in "20 Million Miles to Earth" (1957). Animated by Ray Harryhausen.

Kerwin Mathews duels with a skeleton, brought to life by an evil sorcerer, in "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad" (1959).

A giant bird inhabitant of the "Mysterious Island" (1961), based on the Jules Verne novel. Animation by Ray Harryhausen.

For "Jason and the Argonauts" (1963), Ray Harryhausen ramped up his duel from "Sinbad" by several factors, with the hero battling an entire retinue of skeletal combatants.

The giant statue of Talos comes to life in "Jason and the Argonauts" (1963).

"The Valley of Gwangi" (1969) mixed dinosaurs with cowboys, as adventurers discover a hidden valley of prehistoric creatures.

The six-armed statue of Kali comes to life - each arm in possession of a nasty weapon - in "The Golden Voyage of Sinbad" (1974), Ray Harryhausen's return to the Sinbad mythology.

A griffin from "The Golden Voyage of Sinbad" (1974), animated by Ray Harryhausen.

A 12-foot tall Troglodyte was among the Ray Harryhausen creations in "Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger" (1977).

A sabre-toothed tiger fights the Troglodyte in "Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger" (1977). Animation by Ray Harryhausen.

Harry Hamlin fights off some really big scorpions in the 1981 fantasy "Clash of the Titans." Animation by Ray Harryhausen.

Ray Harryhausen animating a creature from the 1981 fantasy "Clash of the Titans."

A model from "Clash of the Titans" (1981) by Ray Harryhausen.

The Medusa from "Clash of the Titans" (1981).

The Medusa model, from "Clash of the Titans."

Although he admired what could be done with modern digital effects, Ray Harryhausen said he still preferred the look that stop-motion animation gave a film.

"I don't think you want to make it quite real. Stop motion, to me, gives that added value of a dream world," he once said.

By CBSNews.com senior producer David Morgan. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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