This was shared yesterday on the Bernard Herrmann Society page. At the link, you’ll find a couple of letters written by special effects legend Ray Harryhausen, in which he comments on the various composers he had the privilege to work with. He has especially high praise for Herrmann and Miklós Rózsa.

Ray Harryhausen On Miklos Rozsa … Bernard Herrmann … And Max Steiner

Interestingly, on his last film, “Clash of the Titans,” Harryhausen apparently rejected a score-in-progress by Academy Award winning composer John Barry (composer of “Born Free,” “Out of Africa,” “Dances with Wolves,” and the James Bond franchise). In a later interview, Barry, who had been hired because Harryhausen was impressed by his score for “The Lion in Winter,” claimed not to remember much about the experience, beyond the fact that he had provided a few demos.

Some of the music can actually be heard in this installment of the Ray Harryhausen Podcast.

The composer’s fragmentary contributions begin at the following times:

• 6:48, “Heroic 1”

• 1:27:10, “Andromeda”

• 1:28:43, “Persius Growing Up”

• 1:30:49, “Scorpion”

Barry was replaced by Laurence Rosenthal (composer of “A Raisin in the Sun,” “The Miracle Worker,” “Becket,” “The Return of a Man Called Horse,” “The Island of Dr. Moreau,” and “The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles”).

But don’t shed any tears for Barry. He wound up doing just fine.