Stan Winston

Stan Winston
Biographical Information
Born	April 7, 1946
Died	June 15, 2008
Nationality	American
IMDb	Stan Winston
Film Contributions
Role(s)	Creature design and special effects
Worked on	Aliens Predator

Stanley "Stan" Winston (April 7, 1946 – June 15, 2008) was an Academy Award-winning American television and film special effects supervisor, makeup artist and director who designed the Predator creature, for the 1987 film Predator. His initial design has since been adapted, modified and re-envisioned by others (and himself) for the subsequent movies, video games and other media of the Predator and Alien vs. Predator franchise.

As well as designing the original Predator, Winston's effects studio provided the costume and animatronic effects for Predator, as well as the 1986 film Aliens and the 1990 film Predator 2. Other notable films Winston worked on include The Terminator (1984), Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991), Batman Returns (1992), Jurassic Park (1993) and Iron Man (2008).

For his work on Aliens, Winston won an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects (shared with Robert Skotak, John Richardson and Suzanne M. Benson), a BAFTA and a Saturn Award. For his work on Predator, he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects and a Saturn Award, while his work on Predator 2 earned him another two Saturn Award nominations. In addition to these accolades, he won a further three Academy Awards (Best Visual Effects and Best Makeup Effects for Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Best Visual Effects for Jurassic Park), three BAFTAs, two Emmys and seven Saturn Awards, and was nominated for a further six Academy Awards. Winston and his effects studio have been credited with creating some of the most iconic animatronic creatures and villains ever to appear in feature films, including the Terminator endoskeletons from the Terminator franchise, the dinosaurs from the Jurassic Park franchise, the Alien Queen from Aliens and the Predators from the Predator franchise. Winston shared a close relationship with Aliens director James Cameron, working on no less than four of his movies (The Terminator, Aliens, Terminator 2: Judgement Day and Avatar).

Winston passed away in 2008 after a lengthy battle with cancer. Following his death, numerous stars and celebrities paid tribute to him and his work, including Arnold Schwarzenegger, who made a public speech regarding Winston's passing, and director Jon Favreau, who dedicated his Spike TV Scream Award to Winston upon receiving the award for Best Sci-Fi Movie for Iron Man. Terminator Salvation begins and ends its credits with a dedication to Winston. After his death, his four lead supervisors (Shane Mahan, John Rosengrant, Alan Scott and Lindsay Macgowan) founded and built their own effects studio, Legacy Effects, aptly named to honor Winston's memory.

Notable Works

Winston is often cited as one of the greatest practical special effects artists in history, and contributed to several iconic blockbuster effects films, including the first four Terminator films (although the last, Terminator Salvation, was completed after his death) and the Universal Studios attraction T2 3-D: Battle Across Time, Batman Returns and the first three Jurassic Park films. His most notable creations include the Terminator endoskeleton and cyborg prosthetic effects for star Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Terminator, the full-size Queen animatronic in Aliens, the Jungle Hunter in Predator and the City Hunter in Predator 2, the liquid metal prosthetics used in Terminator 2: Judgement Day and the animatronic dinosaurs in the Jurassic Park series, including the full-size Tyrannosaurs rex.

Winston also worked on many other notable effects movies, including John Carpenter's The Thing (where Winston was called in to assist the film's principle effects designer Rob Botin, who found himself unable to meet the film's demanding effects requirements), The Monster Squad (where Winston's studio designed updated versions of classic Hammer Horror monsters), Edward Scissorhands, Congo, The Relic, Small Soldiers, Lake Placid, A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Stephen Spielberg's War of the Worlds and Iron Man.

Awards and Nominations

Year	Film	Notes
1986	Aliens	Academy Awards for Best Visual Effects BAFTA for Best Special Visual Effects Saturn Award for Best Special Effects
1987	Predator	Nominated — Academy Award for Best Visual Effects Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Special Effects
1990	Predator 2	Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Make-Up Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Special Effects

Filmography

Year	Title	Functioned as		Notes
		Director	Effects artist
1974	The Bat People
1975	The Man in the Glass Booth
1976	Dr. Black, Mr. Hyde
	W. C. Fields and Me
	The Terror of Dr. Chaney
1978	The Wiz
	Zoltan, Hound of Dracula
1980	The Island			Uncredited
	The Exterminator
1981	The Hand
	Dead and Buried
	Heartbeeps
1982	Parasite
	White Dog
	The Thing			Uncredited
	The Entity			With William H. Burton, Jr.
	Friday the 13th Part III			Uncredited
1983	Something Wicked This Way Comes			Uncredited
1984	Starman
	The Terminator			With Michael Biehn, Lance Henriksen, Bill Paxton and Arnold Schwarzenegger, directed by James Cameron
1986	The Vidicator
	Invaders from Mars
	Aliens
1987	Predator
	The Monster Squad			With Tom Woodruff, Jr.
1988	Pumpkinhead			With Lance Henriksen and Tom Woodruff, Jr.
1989	Leviathan
1990	Upworld
	Edward Scissorhands			With Winona Ryder
	Predator 2
1991	Terminator 2: Judgement Day			With Michael Biehn, Jenette Goldstein, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sven-Ole Thorsen, directed by James Cameron
1992	Batman Returns			With Henry Kingi
1993	Jurassic Park			With Christopher John Fields
	Shock to the System
1994	Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles			With Nick Gillard
1995	Tank Girl
	Congo
1996	T2 3-D: Battle Across Time			With Arnold Schwarzenegger, co-directed by James Cameron
	The Island of Dr. Moreau			With Ron Perlman
	The Ghost and the Darkness
1997	The Relic			With Brian Steele
	The Lost World: Jurassic Park			With Henry Kingi, Pete Postlethwaite, Thomas Rosales, Jr. and David St. James
	Mousehunt
1998	Small Soldiers			With Archie Hahn
1999	Lake Placid
	Galaxy Quest			With Sigourney Weaver
	Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
	Instinct
	Inspector Gadget			With Michael Papajohn
	End of Days			With William H. Burton, Jr., Henry Kingi, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sven-Ole Thorsen
2001	Pearl Harbor			With Ewen Bremner, Leland Orser and Eddie Yansick
	Jurassic Park III
	A.I. Artificial Intelligence			With R. David Smith
2003	Darkness Falls
	Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines			With Simon Crane and Arnold Schwarzenegger
	Big Fish
2005	Constantine			With Henry Kingi and Brad Martin
	Tideland
2006	The Benchwarmers
2008	Iron Man			With Thomas Rosales, Jr.
2009	Terminator Salvation			With Michael Papajohn and Brian Steele
	G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
	Avatar			Uncredited; with Sigourney Weaver, directed by James Cameron
2010	Shutter Island			Uncredited

Documentary Appearances

• Aliens promotional featurette
• The Making of Alien³
• Superior Firepower: Making Aliens
• One Step Beyond: Making Alien Resurrection Enhancement Pods
• If It Bleeds, We Can Kill It: The Making of Predator
• The Hunters and the Hunted: The Making of Predator 2

Gallery

Winston with Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Predator concept art drawn by Stan Winston.

Stan Winston's creations

The "Dog Thing" from The Thing

The Terminator endoskeleton from Terminator 2: Judgement Day

The Alien Queen from Aliens

The Predator from Predator, as portrayed by Kevin Peter Hall

Gillman from The Monster Squad, as portrayed by Tom Woodruff, Jr.

Pumpkinhead from Pumpkinhead, also portrayed by Woodruff

Johnny Depp as Edward Scissorhands in Edward Scissorhands

Danny De Vito as the Penguin in Batman Returns

The T. rex from Jurassic Park

Robin Sachs as General Roth'h'ar Sarris in Galaxy Quest

Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man in Iron Man