Stan Winston, master and pioneer of special effects for the movie industry has passed away June 15 in his home surrounded by family. He had been struggling with Multiple Myeloma for the last seven years. Stan Winston won 4 Oscars for his work on Aliens, Jurrasic Park, and Terminator 2 for FX and Make-up. His animatronic and make-up fx are the best in the industry and his work on many films will be his legacy.
Stan first worked as a stand up comedian before working in Make-up and Special Effects. He created the make-up for the made-for-tv film Gargoyles in 1972 for which he won his first Emmy.
His work with James Cameron and Arnold Schwarzenegger on The Terminator began a longstanding friendship. In a statement released on Monday the California governor called Winston a “genius” and “one of my best friends”. The action man-turned-politician added, “Stan’s work and four Oscars speak for themselves and will live on forever. What will live forever in my heart is the way that Stan loved everyone and treated each of his friends like they were family… I will miss him greatly and am honoured to have worked with him.”
Stan Winston received a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2001, the second person in the field of Special Effects to receive one. (Denis Murren was first)
His work with Steven Speilberg on Jurassic Park series of films and AI: Artificial Intelligence earn him 1 Oscar and 2 nominations. Speilberg said in a statement “Stan was a fearless and courageous artist/inventor and for many projects, I rode his cutting edge from teddy bears to aliens to dinosaurs. My world would not have been the same without Stan. What I will miss most is his easy laugh every time he said to me, ‘Nothing is impossible.’”
