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Ray Harryhausen and Phil Tippett Receive Honorary Degrees

Freshfrom the dedication on June 13, 2002 of the Ray Harryhausen AnimationLab at Ex'pression Center for New Media in Emeryville, California,Ray Harryhausen received another honor, this time from the Academy ofArt College in San Francisco. On Monday, June 24, 2002, as part ofthe Academy's ongoing "Legends of Film Graphics" series, RayHarryhausen was presented an honorary doctoral degree from thecollege. The following day, the Academy's main animation building wasrenamed the Ray Harryhausen Building. Considered by many to be thefather of modern special effects, Ray Harryhausen redefined thenature of stop-motion animation with his thrilling effects work onsuch classic films as MIGHTY JOE YOUNG, THE SEVENTH VOYAGE OF SINBAD,JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS and CLASH OF THE TITANS. Phil Tippett is oneof many who credit Ray Harryhausen's special effects work on THESEVENTH VOYAGE OF SINBAD as the inspiration for his career path, soit was fitting that Tippett joined Harryhausen in receiving anhonorary doctorate from the Academy of Art College. Founder andpresident of Berkeley, California-based Tippett Studio, Phil Tippettworked on many landmark visual effects films, including THE EMPIRESTRIKES BACK and RETURN OF THE JEDI (for which he won his firstOscar), ROBOCOP, STARSHIP TROOPERS and JURASSIC PARK (for which hewon his second Oscar). More recently, Tippett Studio completed visualeffects work for Jan De Bont's THE HAUNTING, and has won manyadvertising awards for their sassy Blockbuster commercials featuring"Carl" and "Ray." In addition to overseeing and expanding TippettStudio, Phil Tippett is currently in development with his ownproject, EXPEDITION, at Disney.

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