Stan Winston, right, sits next to Michael Jackson at a 1997 screening of the film Ghost, which Winston produced. (Laurent Rebours/Associated Press)

Stan Winston, the special effects wizard behind Terminator, Jurassic Park, Aliens and Edward Scissorhands, has died. He was 62.

Winston died at his home Sunday after a seven-year struggle with multiple myeloma, a representative from Stan Winston Studio said.

Winston was a multiple Oscar winner, having taken the prize in 1986 for Aliens, 1992 for Terminator 2: Judgment Day and 1993 for Jurassic Park.

He had a total of nine Oscar nominations for visual effects and makeup, on films such as Predator, Batman Returns and A.I.

He worked with producer-directors such as James Cameron, Steven Spielberg, Tim Burton and John McTiernan in a career that began in the 1970s.

Born April 7, 1946, in Richmond, Va., Winston studied painting and sculpture at the University of Virginia and California State University.

He wanted to act but struggled to find work until he did a makeup apprenticeship at Disney Studios that introduced him to his life's work.

In 1972, Winston established his own company, Stan Winston Studio, that traded on his expertise in makeup, puppetry and practical effects.

Winston won an Emmy for his effects work on the TV film Gargoyles. He became known as a creature creator, creating and transforming figures for Aliens, The Monster Squad, The Entity and The Island of Dr. Moreau.

"You have to understand that rightly or wrongly, I consider myself an artist and I consider the work that we do art," he said.

"In helping to tell stories by creating these characters, I came out as an actor. I am not a technician. I am techno-ignorant, but I love creating characters and telling wonderful stories."

He broke new ground with the Terminator in 1984, using a life-sized puppet with animatronics to operate the head and neck. Winston said he built on performance technologies created by Jim Henson and the Muppets.

Cameron's Terminator movie was a surprise hit, and Winston ended up in many additional collaborations with Cameron, including Aliens.

He won further acclaim for Edward Scissorhands, Predator and The Monster Squad, then turned his hand to directing.

The result was the 1989 film Pumpkinhead, a flop that became a cult classic, and in 1990, the children's film A Gnome Called Gnorm.

Co-founded digital effects production house

In the 1990s, he moved to dinosaurs in the Jurassic Park series for Spielberg. At the same time, he co-founded a digital effects production house, Digital Domain, with Cameron.

He also did a monster TV series for HBO with titles taken from old movies, such as Day the World Ended, The She-Creature and Teenage Cave Man.

Winston, who always had several projects on the go, employed a team of artists and technicians. His studio recently expanded its work into digital effects.

"I have two comic books series that are out and that are developing screenplays based on them," he said in a 2004 interview. "I've got a toy company. My production company has about 20 projects in production, pre-production or in development. I've started, as of last year, SW Digital, under my roof. Other than that, I'm not doing anything."

One of his final projects was creating the suit used by Robert Downey on Iron Man.

Winston is survived by his wife, Karen, a son, a daughter, a brother and four grandchildren.