Cowboy vs Allosaurus, by Ray Harryhausen, signed 1945. Oil on canvas board, 30.5 x 50.5 cm.
A classic oil painting by Ray, this shows you just how long some of his ideas had been formed before being committed to film! Of course, the concept of 'The Valley of Gwangi' (1969) had originally been conceived by Willis O'Brien, but it's interesting to see just how early the idea had grabbed Ray's imagination.
A scene from the cowboys-versus-dinosaurs film The Valley of Gwangi (1969). This was a film that Willis O’Brien (shame on you if I have to explain who he is!) had attempted to make in 1942, but the movie studio balked. O’Brien died in 1962, but his protege and successor, Ray Harryhausen, revived the project.
Harryhausen seemed to have a thing against elephants. He also had the monstrous ymir attack an elephant in 20 Million Miles to Earth (1957).