Stan Winston

A leading figure in modern movie special effects, Stan Winston once described himself as a character designer rather than a makeup effects technician. His Stan Winston Studio crafted some of modern cinema's most fantastic figures - from animatronic Terminators to computer-generated dinosaurs roaming modern-day Earth - Winston was in a class above the competition. Best know for his collaboration with director James Cameron, Winston was responsible for creating the unforgettable xenomorphs in "Aliens" (1986), as well as the 14-foot tall Alien Queen. On both "The Terminator" (1984) and its lavish sequel "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" (1991), Winston worked to bring Cameron's vision of the iconic endoskeleton to life. In a similar vein, he designed the alien hunter in "Predator" (1987) and "Predator 2" (1990), while working with director Tim Burton on Johnny Depp's sharp-fingered appendages in "Edward Scissorhands" (1990) and Danny DeVito's grotesque Penguin makeup in "Batman Returns" (1992). Winston employed a crack team of painters, sculptors and other artists and craftsmen which he favorably compared to the masters of the Renaissance. In short, Winston not only was at the top of his craft, he singlehandedly resurrected Hollywood from its reliance on campy man-in-the-rubber suits from the 1950s and 1960s to full-blown, life-sized animatronic puppets that both terrified and enthralled moviegoers for generations.