Stan Winston Passes Away

When I was a young little blogger my love of sci-fi and fantasy prompted me to ask my parents for a book entitled Cinema Secrets-Special Effects by Dan Millar, as a gift. The book featured explanations behind various camera illusions, make-up, animation and model making from popular genre films. One of the names that popped up in the book several times was Stan Winston. One of those great below the title names every movie geek worth his salt should be familiar with, Winston was an fx pioneer that helped create some of the most compelling screen icons of the twentieth and twenty-first century including the Aliens, the dinosaurs from Jurassic Park, the Terminator, the Predator and most recently Iron Man (oh and the monsters from Monster Squad for goodness sake). At only sixty-two years old Winston leaves behind an incredible body of work, part of the tragedy here is that I believe the man's best work was still to come. My condolences to Winston's family and friends.
Expect many more internet tributes up today this week like this one here and here, I'll post more on Friday if I see them.