‘My dad made monsters for the movies’
Ray & Diana Harryhausen Foundation
He thrilled us, scared us and even educated us with his movies about classical heroes battling mythical creatures.
Now an exhibition of special effects pioneer Ray Harryhausen’s original monster figures and artwork is on display at The Arc in Winchester, Hampshire.
Jason and the Argonauts, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, One Million Years B.C. and Clash of the Titans all featured Harryhausen’s monstrous handmade creations.
“He made them all in a little room upstairs at home,” remembered his daughter Vanessa.
Characters like the Medusa, Cyclops and an army of sword-wielding skeletons – all models brought to lifens of children and inspired future filmmakers
Ray & Diana Harryhausen Foundation
Vanessa Harryhausen said: “When I came back from school there’d be another piece for another film, like Bubo the clockwork owl or Pegasus the flying horse from Clash of the Titans.
“Just having all these wonderful creatures in the house, they were like my family.
“He kept them in cabinets and on the tables, so I was constantly surrounded by this wonderful plethora of his talent.”
She said she is “ecstatic” the exhibition is in Winchester as she has “wonderful memories” of childhood summers spent there visiting her grandmother and meeting friends.
Ray & Diana Harryhausen Foundation
As a child, Harryhausen’s imagination was captivated by the special effects in King Kong and he started to make his own animated films.
Harryhausen’s painstaking process, of moving each model a fraction to film one frame at a time until he had a complete dynamic sequence, was later adopted by Aardman Animations for their Wallace and Gromit films.
“There’s something intangible and magical about stop-motion animation,” said Connor Heaney, collections manager for the Ray and Diana Harryhausen Foundation.
Heaney said: “In a world of increasingly sophisticated computer-generated imagery, or CGI, people are searching for something real and physical.
“When you see Jason and the Argonauts, the trick that’s being played on your mind is that the skeletons are moving around.
“You know they’re immobile objects that have been brought to life somehow and that thrill will never disappear.
“Ray’s work appeals to my young children at the age of five and nine because they can see this physical process taking place in what is now a very digital world.”
Ray & Diana Harryhausen Foundation
Harryhausen’s creature collection is in remarkable condition thanks to instructions he left on how to repair and restore the latex rubber figures.
Heaney explained that “we’re doing our best to carry on with his wishes and introduce new generations to his work, as well as those who grew up with these wonderful creatures on their televisions and in cinemas”.
“We’re contacted a lot by classicists, archaeologists and palaeontologists whose first encounter with their specific field was through one of Ray Harryhausen’s movies,” he said.
Ray & Diana Harryhausen Foundation
Others inspired by Harryhausen’s work have included Hollywood directors Steven Spielberg, Peter Jackson and Christopher Nolan.
“This year, Nolan described The Odyssey as his ‘Ray Harryhausen movie’ which was wonderful,” said Heaney.
The exhibition Ray Harryhausen – Myths in Motion is at The Arc in Winchester until 16 February 2027.
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The Arc
The Ray and Diana Harryhausen Foundation
Hampshire & Isle of Wight
Winchester
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