Way before movies like Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings inspired the imagination of film lovers everywhere, audiences were enraptured by the sword-wielding skeletons of Jason and the Argonauts, the great ape of Mighty Joe Young and the dinosaurs opposite Raquel Welch in One Million Years B.C.

The man responsible for all those and much more, Hollywood special-effects pioneer Ray Harryhausen, died Tuesday in London at the age of 92. His family announced his death via The Ray and Diana Harryhausen Foundation Facebook page.

Ray Harryhausen’s movies were some of my childhood favorites, from Jason and the Argonauts to The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad and, of course, the original Clash of the Titans. He was the master of stop-motion photography.