<span class="SFPTagline"> From SCIFIPEDIA </span>

Willis H. O’Brien (March 2, 1886 – November 8, 1962, Oakland, California) Pioneer American animator Willis Harold O’Brien began experimenting with stop-motion in 1915, and his first short film, The Dinosaur and the Missing Link, appeared the same year. His special effects for The Lost World (1925) led to the aborted Creation (1930-31) before “Obie” convinced RKO Radio Pictures to use stop-motion animation for King Kong (1933). He followed it with Son of Kong (1933), The Animal World (1955), The Black Scorpion (1957), Behemoth the Sea Monster (1958) and worked as an advisor on the 1960 remake of The Lost World. Although he won an Academy Award for his work on Mighty Joe Young (1949), his career was dogged with failed projects and poor luck.