Ray Harryhausen: rare memorabilia collection to go on tour

Harryhausen's famous skeleton fight scene in Jason and the Argonauts.

A COLLECTION of movie memorabilia owned by a Hollywood special effects guru and held in the Capital is set to go on tour.

Ray Harryhausen’s iconic creations for science fiction and fantasy films would go on to inspire the likes of George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Tim Burton and Peter Jackson.

Now the legacy of Harryhausen will live on in Scotland after it emerged the collection, which is being held in a storage facility on the outskirts of Edinburgh, is expected to go on tour around the country.

A trust set up by the late special effects master and his wife, who had Scottish roots, has unveiled plans to take models, storyboards, artwork, scripts and film stills around Scotland.

Ray Harryhausen. Picture: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

Harryhausen’s wife Diana, who died shortly after he did in 2013, was the great-granddaughter of the celebrated Scottish explorer and missionary David Livingstone.

Harryhausen was a regular visitor to Scotland and spoke at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in 2008.

Connor Heaney, collections manager at the trust, said: “Although Ray was American, he moved to the UK in the 1960s when he married Diana. They lived in London, but they had very strong links to Scotland. It was like a second home to them.

“As the collection is now based here, we have the opportunity to do bespoke exhibitions and events that might not be possible elsewhere.”