Stan Winston, the Oscar-winning special-effects maestro responsible for bringing the dinosaurs of Jurassic Park and other iconic movie creatures to life, has died. He was 62.Winston died at his home in Malibu surrounded by family on Sunday evening after a seven-year struggle with multiple myeloma, according to a representative from Stan Winston Studio.
Working with such directors as Steven Spielberg, James Cameron and Tim Burton in a career spanning four decades, Winston created some of the most memorable visual effects in cinematic history. He helped bring the dinosaurs from Jurassic Park, the extraterrestrials from Aliens, the robots from Terminator and even Edward Scissorhands to the big screen, and was a pioneer in merging real-world effects with computer imaging.
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.' "
Winston won visual effects Oscars for 1986's Aliens, 1992's Terminator 2: Judgment Day and 1993's Jurassic Park. He also won a makeup Oscar for 1992's Batman Returns.
Winston was nominated for his work on Heartbeeps, Predator, Edward Scissorhands, Batman Returns, The Lost World: Jurassic Park and A.I..
He last worked with director Jon Favreau on Paramount's Iron Man.
Source: The Associate Press
Spielberg statement source: Variety
