Doug Lefler

How I was Influenced by Ray Harryhausen

Ray Harryhausen 1920 – 2013

It is possible that I would have ventured into the entertainment industry if my dad had not taken me to the drive-in to see One Million Years B.C., but he did. I was nine years old, and I became obsessed with the man who had created the dinosaurs that shared the barren prehistoric landscape along with John Richardson and Raquel Welch. I didn’t know how he did it, what he looked like or even how to pronounce his name, but I knew I wanted to be Ray Harryhausen.

The Grandmaster of stop-motion animation died last week. I haven’t had time to write a proper tribute, but rather than wait a year (as I did when Ray Bradbury passed away) I wanted to post images of things I never would have built, directed or drawn if not for Harryhausen.

Armature-1975
While in High School I made this stop-motion armature from bicycle chain links, nails and ball bearings
Doug-Lefler-1974
Me with a stop-motion puppet in 1974
Road-to-Calydon-1995
The Stymphalian Bird from “Road to Calydon”
The-King-of-Thieves-1995
Hercules fights a giant snake in “The King of Thieves”
A-Family-Affair-1998
A tender moment between a mother and her monster child from “Family Affair”
Dragonheart,-A-New-Beginning-2000
Dragonheart, A New Beginning
Nephilim-Dinosaurs
Scrollon image from Nephilim: “A Bigger World”
Dragon-Island-Nest-wip
Work in Progress – The Island of Dragons
Ashfire-Moon-Monsters
The Monsters of the Night from “Stories from the Ashfire Moon”

One comment

  1. Let’s not forget “Jason and the Argonauts” — the skeleton army grown from dragon’s teeth were awesome. A lot of characters to juggle.


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