LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Influential visual effects maker and animator Ray Harryhausen, who helped create monsters and other animated creatures for movies ranging from "Jason and the Argonauts" to "The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms," died on Tuesday at the age of 92, his family said.
Harryhausen, who was born in Los Angeles and worked for more than 40 years in the movie industry, died in London, his family said in a statement.
"The Harryhausen family regret to announce the death of Ray Harryhausen, visual effects pioneer and stop-motion model animator.
"Ray's influence on today's film makers was enormous, with luminaries; Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, Peter Jackson, George Lucas, John Landis and the UK's own Nick Park have cited Harryhausen as being the man whose work inspired their own creations," the statement said.
Harryhausen helped make some of best known special effects movies of the 1940s and 1950s, including "Mighty Joe Young" in 1949, "One Million Years B.C." in 1966 as well as three films based on "Sinbad" and "Clash of the Titans".
His animation work on a seven skeleton fight scene for "Jason and The Argonauts" in 1963 took him three months to film.
(Reporting By Jill Serjeant; Editing by Sandra Maler)