1. Clash of the Titans Was Not His Last Film!
Ray Harryhausen may very well be most remembered for his classic 1981 film Clash of the Titans, but this is not his last work. In 2001, Ray was to complete a short film almost fifty years in the making, The Story of The Tortoise & the Hare. Begun in 1952, the film short was plagued with interruption after interruption, due to the prolific animator's other works taking precedence. The original armatures were built in the fifties by his father, and the clothing made by his mother, and fortunately most of them survived enough to be used as reference. In the year 2000, filmmakers Mark Caballero and Seamus Walsh began work to restore the original scenes and complete the story with new footage, while staying true to Ray's original vision. Ray even came out of a 22 year retirement to animate some of the scenes, and provide the aforementioned models. Ray even provided the filmmakers with the original Cine Special 16mm camera he had used on the project all those decades before! Out of respect for Ray, IO FILM, a digital house in North Hollywood, donated their services to provide digital fixes to make the old and new film match up better, a time-consuming and expensive process. The film, with Ray listed as director, finally saw its first audience on September 27, 2002 at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, before heading out on the festival circuit. All of this just shows how dedicated to his art Ray was, and that "slow and steady" does sometimes win the race indeed!
I hope this has given you a deeper respect for this man that many have called a legend, or at least an insight into why him and his films are so beloved by so many. His work touched so many hearts over the years, and although he will be missed by many, we'll always have his films to remember him by. Thank you, Ray.