The legendary visual effects maestro Stan Winston passed away last night. The news hasn't hit the mainstream sources yet, but Quint over at AICN confirmed it with a close friend of Winston. He was only 62 years old. Winston won the Oscar four times for his work on Aliens, Terminator 2, Jurassic Park, and AI and most recently worked on the brilliant visual effects in Iron Man. Winston was easily one of the greatest special effects visionaries to ever work in Hollywood and has created some of the most memorable special effects in cinematic history. This is truly a great loss and an incredibly sad day for Hollywood.

His cinematography is vast. Winston is an icon himself who has created countless cinematic legends. In addition to the four films that he won Oscars for, Winston worked on The Thing, Predator, The Monster Squad, Congo, Galaxy Quest, Big Fish, and Constantine. He was currently working with McG on the upcoming Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins. The cause of death hasn't been revealed, however details on this story are currently developing. We will update this story once we confirm more details. You can see much of his fantastic work over at his studio's official website: StanWinstonStudio.com.

This is truly a great tragedy that will affect all of Hollywood. He will certainly be remembered!