Film animation pioneer Ray Harryhausen's career – in pictures

American film animator and special effects creator Ray Harryhausen manipulates a figure of a serpent-like monster for stop motion animation, circa 1965 Photograph: Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Mighty Joe Young, 1949 Photograph: BFI

Animal World, 1956 Photograph: SNAP/Rex Features

Earth vs Flying Saucers, 1956 Photograph: SNAP/Rex Features

Ray Harryhausen storyboard for an unidentified film Photograph: The Ronald Grant Archive

It Came from Beneath the Sea, 1955 Photograph: Ronald Grant Archive

20 Million Miles To Earth, 1957 Photograph: Moviestore Collection/Rex Features

A charcoal and pencil key drawing for the Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, 1957, an unrealised sequence for the film Photograph: Ray Harryhausen/Aurum Press

The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, 1958, cyclops animated by Ray Harryhausen Photograph: Ronald Grant Archive

The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, 1958 Photograph: Ronald Grant Archive

The 3 Worlds Of Gulliver, 1960 Photograph: Everett Collection/Rex Features

Harryhausen with storyboards for Mysterious Island, 1961 Photograph: BFI

Mysterious Island, 1961 Photograph: Moviestore Collection/Rex Features

Jason and the Argonauts, 1963, directed by Don Chaffey, in which Ray Harryhausen's skeleton models battle Jason Photograph: Everett Collection/Rex Features

Ray Harryhausen storyboard illustration for One Million Years BC, 1966 Photograph: The Ronald Grant Archive

One Million Years BC, 1966 Photograph: Moviestore Collection/Rex Features

The Valley Of Gwangi, 1969 Photograph: Moviestore Collection/Rex Features

Producers Charles H Schneer, left, and Ray Harryhausen holding storyboards, on the set of the Golden Voyage of Sinbad, 1973 Photograph: Everett Collection/Rex Features

The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, 1973 Photograph: Moviestore Collection/Rex Features

Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger, 1977 Photograph: Everett Collection/Rex Features

Working on a model of Medusa from the film Clash Of The Titans, 1981 Photograph: Allstar/Cinetext/MGM

Clash of the Titans, 1981 Photograph: BFI

Sinbad & The Eye of the Tiger, 1977 Photograph: Allstar/Cinetext

Harryhausen in 2010 with a life-size replica of Medusa from 1981's Clash of the Titans Photograph: Matt LLoyd / Rex Features/Matt LLoyd / Rex Features