Stan Winston: 1946-2008

Stan Winston, the father of modern special effects, died Sunday morning at his home in Malibu.  Winston suffered from multiple myeloma, a disease he had been fighting off for years.

Winston is probably best known for the string of massive, effects-laden films during the '80s that had his stamp on them. He had his hand in all three of the big, action sci-fi franchises of the time, working on Aliens, Predator and all three Terminator films. Winston had strong ties with James Cameron, who founded Digital Domain with him in 1993.

“We’ve lost a great artist, a man who made a contribution to the cinema of the fantastic that will resound for a long long time. I don’t need to list the indelible characters he and his team of artists brought to the screen,” Cameron said in Winston’s tribute on AICN. 

Along with his collaborations, Winston also directed the low-budget horror film Pumpkinhead, as well as the more obscure family comedy A Gnome Named Gnorm. His works, and their influence on other films, affected a whole generation of American films, all the way to the recently released Iron Man and the upcoming Terminator 4 and Avatar films. 

Paste’s best wishes go out to Winston's family, and lovers of blockbusters everywhere who will be sad to see their films look a little bit worse in the future.

Related links:
Review: Iron Man
Stan Winston on IMDb

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