A Portrait of one of Cliff’s Boys

I must express my deep gratitude to Dennis Lowe first and foremost, for taking it upon himself to document on HD video the careers of several key Brit special effects exponents, and for sharing with me so many rare and utterly wonderful photographs documenting the careers of so many of these gentlemen, starting with Les Bowie, Kit West, Brian Johnson and many of Dennis’ former effects associates connected with the ever terrific Ridley Scott picture ALIEN. The following article is largely extrapolated from Dennis’s interview with Leigh in October 2010 and to a smaller extent from my own files and screen grabs.

I cannot recommend Dennis’ in depth documentaries enough, with the concise “tell it like it was” approach being, each a special effects tutorial in it’s own right. Honest, clear and sometimes utterly hilarious (especially his Bowie tribute which is a gem) Fresh off the avid is the excellent 72 minute conversation with the subject of today’s blog, Leigh Took…

…Read the Full Article @ Matte Shot
A Tribute to Golden Era Special FX

Please Note: I go further back into the archives of Matte Shot – A Tribute to Golden Era Special FX to feature even more articles from this great site.