Ray Harryhausen - June 29, 1920 - May 7th, 2013

I don't know what's going on these past few months, but world, please stop killing all my heroes.

 
From Indiewire:
"Ray Harryhausen, the pioneering visual effects artist perhaps best known for his work on 1963's "Jason and the Argonauts," died today in London. He was 92.

The announcement was made on the official Facebook page of The Ray and Diana Harryhausen Foundation, which noted that "Harryhausen's genius was in being able to bring his models alive. Whether they were prehistoric dinosaurs or mythological creatures, in Ray's hands they were no longer puppets but became instead characters in their own right, just as important as the actors they played against and in most cases even more so."