Ray Harryhausen, special effects pioneer was 92 *

Ray Harryhausen, the creator of stop-motion special effects in Hollywood pictures, has died in London, his family announced on Facebook. From The Guardian: "In an era before CGI, Harryhausen used clay monsters and mythical creatures to bring life to live-action adventure films like 'Clash of the Titans,' 'Valley of the Gwangi' and 'Jason and the Argonauts.' He inspired the likes of John Landis, Stephen Spielberg, Peter Jackson, Tim Burton and Guillermo Del Toro, and was awarded both a Bafta and a special Academy Award for his work."

Harryhausen was a member of the science-fiction club that met upstairs at Clifton's Cafeteria in the 1930s and included Ray Bradbury and Forrest Ackerman. Here's a piece that author Denise Hamilton wrote for LA Observed in 2006 about spending time with Harryhausen. Sample:

I discovered Harryhausen last year while researching my new crime novel, which is set in 1949 Hollywood. It's inspired by the real life disappearance of a starlet, and I'd been looking for a way to write about the done-to death film industry from a new and oblique angle. When I realized I could tell the history of special effects through a Harryhausen-like character, I knew I'd hit the sweet spot.

I'm late to the game — the special effects crowd has worshipped at Harryhausen's armature and foam-rubber shrine for years now. I'm only happy he's still with us, and getting more renown each year.

It's eerie to hear Harryhausen talk about how he met sci-fi collector Forrest Ackerman and author Ray Bradbury in 1938 when all three belonged to a science fiction club that gathered each Thursday evening in the long defunct "brown room" upstairs at Clifton's Cafeteria in downtown Los Angeles. Can you imagine the conversations? Oh to be a fly on the wall.

"We'd talk about rocket science and traveling to the moon and space platforms," Harryhausen says. "People thought we were crazy. But we were just ahead of our time."

Hollywood is reacting to Harryhausen's passing with tributes. A sample:

"Anyone in the world of animation, SFX, or fantasy owes everything to Ray Harryhausen," Andrew Stanton, director of "John Carter," said on Twitter. "A true legend. RIP Sir."

"Iron Man" director Jon Favreau called Harryhausen "a source of inspiration, the master of stop motion, and even a voice actor in Elf. His work still holds up."

Comedian Patton Oswalt said, "If I believed in God, I'd want him to be like Ray Harryhausen -- nudging us one frame at a time toward the sublime & fantastic."

Photo: Cyclops in "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad," 1958