STAN WINSTON: 1946-2008

The sad news has just been released that Stan Winston, special effects and make-up legend (as the article puts it appropriately) has died. He was 62. He was battling with multiple myeloma for the past 7 years.

He had won the Oscars for his works on Aliens, Jurassic Park, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, and Batman Returns.

If you have seen a movie from the 1980's with special effects in it, Winston was probably there. He provided a lot of monster effects, in particular, for movies such as Aliens, Predator, The Terminator, The Thing, and Pumpkinhead. After the 1980's, his works include films such as Jurassic Park, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Batman Returns, Edward Scissorhands, From Dusk Til Dawn, Congo, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, and many more.

Recently, he created the Iron Man armor in the new Iron Man film, and reportedly was working on James Cameron's upcoming Avatar.

He will be duly missed, very much, but his legacy will continue through his admirers in the world of film. I have no doubt he has inspired a generation of film makers to follow their dreams and goals in the medium.

His works have probably frightened most of us at some point, as well as wowed us. I always love seeing the Aliens on screen that he created, and those Jurassic Park dinosaurs will always be awesome. He definitely struck the world with those. And we can always go back and watch the movies he worked on, and be amazed again and again, and remember the first times we witnessed all of those monsters and tremendous effects.

Goodbye, Stan. Thank you for all of the great, great work you have given we, the audience in the cinema, and for helping us love movies. And for inspiring others to make movies. You were a part of movie history, and you always will be.

Source: Breitbart