Stan Winston

I read that Stan Winston passed away over the weekend (Tim Russert's passing did not go unnoticed, either). Because of Star Wars, I grew up devouring everything I could about film special effects, from the classics into the digital age. Winston's name was ever-present with the likes of Harryhausen, Dykstra, and Tippet. The list of groundbreaking and just plain awesome films under Winston's magical touch is simply amazing. Terminator 2 may be my favorite of his, but right up to Iron Man he went out with a hell of a bang. Film and how films are made is due in no small part to much of his work.

Stan Winston was the man. And if he wasn't, he just built one.

Special-Effects Pioneer Stan Winston Dies at 62