Special effects master Stan Winston is dead

Posted on June 17, 2008
Filed Under Actors, Directors

Stan Winston, Oscar-winning special effects master who designed the dinosaurs for “Jurassic Park” and the look of “The Terminator,” died Sunday evening at his Malibu home. He was 62. The Oscar and Emmy-winning f/x and makeup designer died after a seven-year struggle with multiple myeloma.

Winston, who set the industry standard for robotic/animatronic creatures and prosthetic makeup, won four Oscars: a visual effects Oscar for 1986′s “Aliens,” visual effects and makeup Oscars for 1992′s “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” and a visual effects Oscar for 1993′s “Jurassic Park.”

The conference room at Winston’s Van Nuys studio was long one of the most effective sales tools any effects company could hope for. It was a combination museum and resume, with many of the most memorable movie creatures of recent decades — including the queen alien from “Aliens,” the Predator and even Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator — lunging toward the conference table on all sides.

Steven Spielberg, who worked with Winston on several films, 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.’ ”

Gov. Schwarzenegger said: “The entertainment industry has lost a genius, and I lost one of my best friends with the death Sunday night of Stan Winston. 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.”

Producer Gale Anne Hurd, who worked with Winston on the “Terminator” franchise, “Aliens” and “The Relic,” recalled that she and helmer James Cameron first approached makeup artist Dick Smith to do the prosthetic effects on “The Terminator.” Smith declined and recommended Winston, saying, “One day, you’ll thank me.”

He is survived by his wife, Karen; son Matt, an actor; daughter Debbie; a brother and four grandchildren.

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