I found out this morning that Stan Winston, visual effects master, died yesterday at only 62 years of age from cancer. If you’ve watched almost any science fiction movie in the past 20 years, you’ve seen his work as he had a hand in bringing to life such iconic creations as the Terminator, the Predator and the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park. He also worked on Galaxy Quest, Iron Man, and, well, the list goes on and on.

He’ll go down in movie history as one of the greats, for certain, and not just because of his four Oscar wins in the visual effects categories. When I worked at a movie memorabilia store in Hollywood in the 90s, you couldn’t pick up a magazine like Cinefex or Cinefantatique without mention of him in their pages, and the same holds true today. Coolhand and I went to see him speak at UCLA once, and the auditorium was filled with enthusiastic fans who wanted to hear every detail of how he spun his movie magic. He will be greatly, greatly missed and the world of film won’t be the same without his special gifts. Thoughts go out to his friends and family.