Special effects and makeup wizard Stan Winston has died.
From The Terminator movies to Iron Man, Stan Winston made the magic that make movies magic.
The Oscar-winning visual-effects and makeup guru died Sunday of multiple myeloma at his Malibu home. He was 62, and had been battling the plasma cancer for seven years.
Long Hollywood's go-to creator of creatures great and occasionally frightening, Winston won four Oscars for his wizardry on Jurassic Park, Aliens and Terminator 2: Judgment Day, which earned him two statuettes, one for makeup and one for visual effects. He was nominated a total of 10 times.
His handiwork can be seen in the current summer hits Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, You Don't Mess With the Zohan and Iron Man, for which Winston's namesake studio built the hero's high-tech armored suits.
Stan Winston Studio is also set to work on the upcoming Terminator 4, the big-screen, live-action G.I. Joe and James Cameron's Avatar.
Although Winston tended to work on films that were heavy on special effects, he maintained his life's work was about building characters, not gadgets.
"I don't do special effects. I create characters, and I use the tools of special effects necessary to do it," Winston told the BBC in 2003.
He will be missed. We send our heartfelt condolences to his family and friends.
