Les Bowie

(1966) and destroyed it in The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961).

Bowie did superb matte work on The Brides of Dracula (1960), The Curse of the Werewolf (1961), Night Creatures (1962), to mention but a few. He also supervised the creation of earth in just six days (on a budget of 1,000 pounds) for One Million Years B. C.

Bowie was best known for his work at Hammer, beginning with The Quatermass Xperiment (1955), for which he created the monster. He worked on many of the best films for the studio, producing innovative re-usable models. He was also responsible for numerous clever trick effects, including the demises of Count Dracula and assorted minions.

In 1950, Bowie turned freelance and established his own FX unit in partnership with Vic Margutti and A. Val Elsey. This was later expanded to become Bowie Films Ltd. , ultimately Britain's leading FX unit, with a staff of 75 people at work creating miniatures, mechanical devices, trick photography and matte paintings.

Before the advent of computer-generated special effects, pioneers in the field managed to create movie magic, despite often restrictive budgets. Les Bowie was one of the best. He began work as a scenic artist at Denham, Pinewood and Shepperton studios in 1946, under the auspices of W. Percy Day. Bowie made his initial mark by developing a faster technique for creating matte shots in a single day. He was rewarded by being pushed up the ladder to chief matte artist for the Rank Organisation.