Stan Winston

Jun 20 2008 by David Charters, Liverpool Daily Post

HE SHUDDERED at the sight of blood, but the young puppeteer with the mountainous imagination loved monsters.

The trouble was that most of them disappeared during evolution. So he made them again, and soon the earth trembled to their tread.

But Stan Winston never claimed to be a god. He was just the man behind the movies, which made children sit on the edge of their seats, open-mouthed in wonder, shells of popcorn awaiting the crunch.

Aged 12, Winston visited Disney World, Florida, where he was introduced to Abraham Lincoln, a talking, animatronic figure.

“Oh, that is the most amazing thing. What a cool toy,” he thought. He would have to make his own.

Born into a middle-class family in Arlington, Virginia, it had been assumed that Stan would enter one of the senior professions, but dyslexia and a fear of blood ruled out medicine or law.

But, in the blinking of his eyes, he could enter the world of the imagination, where everything was possible, and this was manifested in his puppet shows.

This talent took him to study fine arts and drama at the University of Virginia. An early ambition to act was quickly replaced by his fascination with the special effects, which had played such a part in Hollywood, from the Frankenstein and Dracula movies to the Wizard of Oz.

He worked for Disney for three years, before opening his own studio. TV provided his first outlet, but he did the make-up for The Bat People (1974). The Man in the Glass Booth and WC Fields and Me followed.

His first Oscar nomination was for the robots in Heartbeeps (1982). Soon after that he began working with James Cameron, director of the Terminator films, Terminator 2 winning him another Oscar nomination.

However, his lasting reputation will rest on the chilling, bladed fingers he invented for Edward Scissor- hands (1990) and even more for the Oscar-nominated prehistoric monsters he created for Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park series.

In true Hollywood style, these wonderful creatures were terrifying. More than that, however, they were the result of deep research into paleontology. They had to look real.

Winston’s other credits include Batman Returns, Interview with the Vampire, Apollo 13 and The Island of Dr Moreau.

For seven years, Winston, married with two children, had suffered multiple myeloma.

Stan Winston, special-effects maestro; born April 7, 1946, died June 15, 2008.