Biography:

He worked at the matte painting department at Rank Studios since 1946.
At 1950 he left Rank and started  his career as full FX artist, doing mattes, miniatures, mechanical effects, etc.
He created his own FX companie, working in most of the Hammer films.
Under his tutelage there were a great number of Brithis FX artist like, Albert Whitlock, Derek Meddings, and Brian Johnson.

From an interview at American Cinematographer magazine.

 

Les Bowie at work on a matte painting for "Superman" (1979).

The day the Earth caught fire (1961)

Matte shot from "Dracula" (1958) Derek Meddings was matte assistent under Bowie at that time.

Great expectations (1946) (at left),  and Oliver Twist (1948) (at right)

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So long at the Fair (1950)
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The Quatermass Xperiment (1955)

Quatermass 2 (1957)

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Two matte shots made under Les Bowie supervision during the 60´s.  At that time, ray Caple and Bob Cuff  painted mattes for him.
The Brides of Dracula (1960) (left) / The Kiss of the Vampire (1963) (right)
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 - Superman (1978) (creative supervisor of mattes & composites)
- Star Wars (1977) (visual effects) (uncredited)
-  To the Devil a Daughter (1976) (special effects)
- Call Him Mr. Shatter (1976) (special effects)
- Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1973) (special effects)
- Satanic Rites of Dracula, The (1973) (special effects)
- Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972) (special effects)
- Nothing But the Night (1972) (special effects)
- Vampire Circus (1971) (special effects)
- Moon Zero Two (1969) (special effects creator)
- 2001: A Space Odyssey (special effects)
- Casino Royale (1967) (special matte worker)
- Mummy's Shroud, The (1967) (special effects)
- Frankenstein Created Woman (1967) (special effects)
- Quatermass and the Pit (1967) (special effects)
- Terrornauts, The (1967) (special effects)
- They Came From Beyond Space (1967) (special effects)
- One Million Years B.C. (1966) (prologue designer)
- Fahrenheit 451 (1966) (special effects)
- Plague of the Zombies, The (1966) (special effects) (uncredited)
- Quiller Memorandum, The (1966) (special effects)
- Reptile, The (1966) (special effects)
- First Men in the Moon (1964) (special effects staff)
- Evil of Frankenstein, The (1964) (special effects)
- Crimson Blade, The (1963) (special effects)
- Kiss of the Vampire, The (1963) (special effects)
- Old Dark House, The (1963) (special effects)
- Night Creatures (1962) (special effects)
- Shadow of the Cat (1961) (special effects)
- Curse of the Werewolf, The (1961) (special effects)
- Day the Earth Caught Fire, The (1961) (special effects)
- Dr. Blood's Coffin (1961) (special effects)
- Quatermass Experiment, The (1956) (special effects)
- So Long at the Fair (1950) (special effects)
- Oliver Twist (1948) (matte painter) (uncredited)
- Great Expectations(1946) (matte painter) (uncredited)
 

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