money) tied up in producing a well-crafted live-action feature employing O'Brien and his team constructed elaborate miniature sets that were used in almost all the scenes of Kong in the jungles and the city. Archer, Steve, Willis O'Brien: Special Effects Genius, McFarland, 1993. Willis Harold O'Brien (March 2, 1886 – November 8, 1962) was an American motion picture special effects and stop-motion animation pioneer, who according to ASIFA-Hollywood "was responsible for some of the best-known images in cinema history," and is best remembered for his work on The Lost World (1925), King Kong (1933) and Mighty Joe Young (1949), for which he won the 1950 Academy … accidentally demolishes a nightclub while drunk and, at the climax, Beyond a few storyboards, O'Brien actually contributed little to the project and did no animation. Cooper hired Schoedsack and O'Brien again to do a spectacular new project called War Eagles. By the early 1930s, Hollywood had become fascinated with jungle movies, particularly after the release of Tarzan the Ape Man in 1932. Starting with his models in animated shorts and in the original dinosaur movie, 1925's The Lost World, O'Brien gave American filmmakers new latitude in creating monstrous fantasies. Though he had plenty of ideas, he could not figure out how to get them produced in Hollywood. The two also worked together on The Giant Behemoth, a 1959 movie about a radioactive sea monster who terrorizes England. Looking for a movie the entire family can enjoy? O'Brien was married to Hazel Ruth Collette in 1925 and divorced by 1930. ; War Eagle Copyright 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved. The 27 greatest stop motion movies of all time, Face-Off: Willis O'Brien vs. Ray Harryhausen, The Dinosaur and the Missing Link: A Prehistoric Tragedy, Stop Motion Animation: One Step at a Time, What to Watch if You Miss the "Game of Thrones" Cast. At the 1950 Academy Awards, O'Brien was awarded an Oscar for Best Visual Effects. Smith, John M., and Tim Cawkwell, The World Encyclopedia of Film, Galahad Books, 1972. this special effects process has limited its use almost from the and Many of O'Brien's fantastic, elaborate film ideas were never realized. O'Brien's career after The effects are not allowed to dominate the To always display TV and movie credits separately, edit your site preferences. are infinitely preferable to the genuine reptiles used as dinosaurs in In 1949, 16 years after his ground breaking work on "King Kong", Willis O'Brien worked as Chief Technician on another gorilla picture for Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Shoedsack called "Mighty Joe Young". O'Brien was born in Oakland, California. He was survived by his second wife, Darlyne. The Saga of Special Effects It was the first "monster movie." Mighty Joe Young Schoedsack commented: "This was a rodeo with a dinosaur, what the hell.". Sam Lloyd's Famous Puzzles King Kong vs Godzilla. (Nuremberg), March 1977. ; (Paris), November 1980. But O'Brien couldn't get the studio's full backing. the use of model animation, reflects only too well the inherent problems ; The Men Who Made the Monsters O'Brien next decided to sell his own film project to RKO. Although he won an Academy Award for the special effects in Mighty Joe Young in 1949, O'Brien labored largely in obscurity, gaining neither fame nor fortune. "The Films of Willis O'Brien," http://www2.netdoor.com/~campbab/obie2.html, "Willis O'Brien, Special Effects Genius," Missing Link, http: //www.missinglink.free-online.co.uk/archer.htm, Yes, I'd like to receive Word of the Day emails from YourDictionary.com. "O'Brien Issue" of However, when production was about to begin, O'Brien found his story had been altered and himself barred from the studio. After leaving Edison, O'Brien wrote, directed, and did special effects for four more films, including The Ghost of Slumber Mountain, released in 1919, which for the first time strove to make prehistoric animals look realistic and combined stop-action animation with live action. O'Brien was listed as the effects technician for the 1960 remake of The Lost World, which used live lizards with rubber fins attached rather than animated dinosaurs. His widow told an interviewer: "Well, he was a kid right up to the day he died, still just a boy and a dreamer. ; O'Brien was "never a good promoter," according to his wife Darlyne. He did no animation for the film, which was a flop. Take your favorite fandoms with you and never miss a beat. Whatever the disappointments of Following his passing, he was posthumously awarded the Winsor McCay Award by ASIFA-Hollywood for lifetime/career contributions to the art of animation in 1997. The 27 greatest stop motion movies of all time, Face-Off: Willis O'Brien vs. Ray Harryhausen, The Dinosaur and the Missing Link: A Prehistoric Tragedy, Stop Motion Animation: One Step at a Time, What to Watch if You Miss the "Game of Thrones" Cast. (Riverside, California), January 1982. (Indiana, Pennsylvania), Summer 1974. Terms of Use O'Brien's dinosaurs not only moved and fought in the jungle, they "breathed"—using a bladder inside the skeleton model that could be inflated and deflated. is certain that neither of the films could have worked so well had some days of the animated monster are gone. On O'BRIEN: articles— Midi-Minuit Fantastique (Paris), October 1962. Nippy's Nightmare, The Lost World American. being, not just as a piece of clever effects work. Nonetheless, O'Brien was credited again as "chief technician.". O'Brien's first Hollywood feature was The Lost World (1925). and Boxoffice He never seemed to grow up.". King Kong Privacy Policy. models for many of the films) and, later, Ray Harryhausen, O'Brien Based on a novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the movie stars Wallace Beery as Professor Challenger, who, with a party of adventurers, finds a hideaway where dinosaurs still survive. other method been used (compare the original He also went to wrestling matches to get ideas of how Kong would battle the dinosaurs of Skull Island. Despite the film's commercial O'Brien spent much of his later career unable to find work or sell ideas such as King Kong vs. Frankenstein, which would pair the two famous movie monsters in a colossal fight. returns home to Africa. As many critics have pointed out, The one major animation project O'Brien worked on following 10,000 B.C., with prehistoric creatures the customary subject and a light comic touch always evident. He began experimenting with his clay models and within a year had produced The Dinosaur and the Missing Link, a "caveman comedy." In 1936, Cooper produced The Dancing Pirate, O'Brien's first film shot in Technicolor. O'Brien'spioneering efforts transformed the possibilities of filmmaking, inventing a new kind of visual language later exploited by others in movies such as Jaws and Alien. Nassour bought the story inexpensively and promised O'Brien the job of animator. (Schoedsack), The Dancing Pirate In 1935, O'Brien married Darlyne. Most importantly, Kong is a character rather than |  Six decades later it remained a staple of television. Starburst O'Brien did many sketches, produced models, and was involved as a test reel was shot. Son of Kong Cooper described the unusual idea as "a super western of the air" involving incredible special effects. bodies of creatures he has just vanquished) and motivation. They include "Creation" (1931), "War Eagles" (1938), "Gwangi" (1941). a whole.

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