One of my all time favorite producers has passed away... Charles H Schneer, producer behind Ray Harryhausen, is gone...

Hey folks, Harry here... Charles H. Schneer wasn't a household name. He wasn't one of the biggest names in Hollywood, but for a class of film geek that I am a devoted member of... His name meant that something fantastic was to follow. There's only one pure Ray Harryhausen film that doesn't carry his name, BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS (Ray's first solo effects feature), but beginning with IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA all the way through CLASH OF THE TITANS - Charles H Schneer paved the way for Ray Harryhausen to do his magic. He was known to have convinced Ray to go to color for 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD and helped to bring all those wonderful films into being. He did do other work, most notably - he produced HELLCATS OF THE NAVY, which was the film on which a young lady named Nancy Davis and a young dorky actor by the name of Ronald Reagan were introduced via the movie screen to America, thus leading the seeds of a dynamic duo of Conservative America, which... well... who knows where the world would be had that not happened. But like I said, the big deal was his helping to line up the financing and help with Ray Harryhausen's creations. Not an awful lot is seen of Charles Schneer... You'd have to read all about him Ray's books or books on Ray Harryhausen. In every story of every film you see just how instrumental Charles was to the project. In finding the director, the other talent that went into the films and even the fantastic locations. It is hard to imagine that we'll ever see a partnership like the one that Harryhausen and Schneer had. Below is a fairly inept interview by a complete filmtard, but it actually provides a good stage for Charles to make his point about working with Ray and their films. I never had the honor of meeting Charles, I've only heard stories about him from Ray, who speaks incredibly fondly about him. My thoughts go out to his family and friends and especially to Ray Harryhausen, who lost a dear friend today.

Now - Here's the trailers for some of his work...