Richard Edmund Williams ( Lane; March 19, 1933 – August 16, 2019) was a Canadian-British animator, voice actor, and painter. A three-time

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

winner, he is best known as the animation director of ''

Who Framed Roger Rabbit ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'' is a 1988 American fantasy comedy film directed by Robert Zemeckis from a screenplay written by Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman. It is loosely based on the 1981 novel ''Who Censored Roger Rabbit?'' by Gary K. Wol ...

'' (1988)—for which he won two Academy Awards—and as the director of his unfinished feature film '' The Thief and the Cobbler'' (1993). His work on the short film ''

A Christmas Carol ''A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas'', commonly known as ''A Christmas Carol'', is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843 and illustrated by John Leech. It recounts the ...

'' (1971) earned him his first

. He was also a film title sequence designer and animator. Other works in this field include the title sequences for '' What's New Pussycat?'' (1965) and ''

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum ''A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart. Inspired by the farces of the ancient Roman playwright Plautus (254–184 BC), specif ...

'' (1966), title and linking sequences in '' The Charge of the Light Brigade'', and the intros of the eponymous cartoon feline for two of the later '' Pink Panther'' films. In 2002 he published ''The Animator's Survival Kit'', an authoritative manual of animation methods and techniques, which has since been turned into a 16-DVD box set as well as an iOS app. From 2008 he worked as an artist in residence at

Aardman Animations Aardman Animations Limited, known simply as Aardman, is a British animation studio based in Bristol, England, United Kingdom. It is known for films and television series made using stop motion and clay animation techniques, particularly those fe ...

in Bristol, and in 2015 he received both Oscar and BAFTA nominations in the best animated short category for his short film ''

Prologue A prologue or prolog (from Ancient Greek πρόλογος ''prólogos'', from πρό ''pró'', "before" and λόγος ''lógos'', "speech") is an opening to a story that establishes the context and gives background details, often some earlier st ...

''.

Early life

Williams was born as Richard Edmund Lane in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, the only son of the commercial illustrator Kathleen "Kay" Bell (1909–1998) and Leslie Lane (1905–1993), a

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

-born painter and photographic retoucher. Lane left when Williams was a baby, and he was adopted by his stepfather, Kenneth D. C. Williams (1910–2003),Obituary, The Times, 19 August 2019. an advertising executive who worked for Brigdens, a printing and design company in Toronto. Williams grew up on Golfdale Road, a suburban street in Toronto, where he and his childhood friend Martin Hunter put on magic shows and comedy acts for the local neighbourhood: "We collected $16.25, wealth beyond the dreams of avarice". Williams' mother Kay was an accomplished illustrator whose work was inspired by

Arthur Rackham Arthur Rackham (19 September 1867 – 6 September 1939) was an English book illustrator. He is recognised as one of the leading figures during the Golden Age of British book illustration. His work is noted for its robust pen and ink drawings, ...

and Edmund Dulac. Kay read her son the stories of the

Arabian Nights ''One Thousand and One Nights'' (, ), is a collection of Middle Eastern folktales compiled in the Arabic language during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as ''The Arabian Nights'', from the first English-language edition () ...

, which would later inspire his magnum opus ''The Thief and the Cobbler''. "Kay introduced us to ''The Thief of Baghdad'' with its flying carpets, magical horses and wicked viziers". At the age of five, Kay took her son to see ''

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs "Snow White" is a German fairy tale, first written down in the early 19th century. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'', numbered as Tale 53. The original title was ''Sneewittch ...

'' (1937), a film which made a "tremendous impression" on him. Later he would quote his mother as saying to him, "You saw ‘Snow White’ when you were 5, and you were never the same." Williams was educated at the

Northern Secondary School Northern Secondary School is a public high school in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It teaches grades 9 through 12. It is a part of the Toronto District School Board (TDSB). Prior to Amalgamation of Toronto in 1998, it was within the Toronto Board of ...

, Toronto, then known as the Northern Technical School. One of his classmates, Lars Thompson, recalled: "Under the name of Ivan Yurpee, ickplayed a trumpet in a band of fellow zanies. In class, he would sketch our teachers with an animator's sure touch, and without detection". At age 15, Williams travelled to Hollywood from Toronto on a five-day bus trip, where he took the Disney studio tour three days running, each day breaking away from the guide to seek out the studio animators and being ejected from the studio lot. He was finally invited to meet the animators, who showed him how the Disney animation process worked, after his mother contacted a friend who worked for Disney.Obituary at The Guardian 20 August 2019
Retrieved 21 August 2019 "I always wanted, when I was a kid, to get to Disney. I was a clever little fellow so I took my drawings and I eventually got in. They did a story on me, and I was in there for two days, which you can imagine what it was like for a kid."Obituary of Richard Williams at Bristol Live, Georgina Stubbs and Kate Wilson, 17 August 2019
Retrieved 8 October 2019 With help from his stepfather, Williams was already earning a living as a commercial artist at age 17, creating advertisements for companies such as Dr. Ballard's Pet Food. After graduating from high school, Williams enrolled in the advertising program at the Ontario College of Art. He did not receive a diploma, however, as he changed his course of study to join the fine arts program after his third year.

Career

1950s: Ibiza, London and ''The Little Island''

Rembrandt van Rijn - Self-Portrait - Google Art Project

In 1953, Williams saw an exhibition of paintings by

Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (; ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), mononymously known as Rembrandt was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker, and Drawing, draughtsman. He is generally considered one of the greatest visual artists in ...

and was "moved to tears". For a time, he "lost all interest in animation".Obituary at The Independent
Retrieved 15 October 2019 He left Canada and settled in

Ibiza Ibiza (; ; ; #Names and pronunciation, see below) or Iviza is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. It is 150 kilometres (93 miles) from the city of Valencia. It is the third largest of th ...

, where he lived for two years and became a painter, finding inspiration in the clowns and performers at a local circus. These sketches would eventually become the short film ''Circus Drawings'', completed over 50 years later, in 2010. While in Ibiza, Williams played in a jazz band; his passion for the

cornet The cornet (, ) is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B. There is also a soprano cor ...

would be an enduring one, and he would lead several bands over the years, inspired by the music of

Bix Beiderbecke Leon Bismark "Bix" Beiderbecke ( ; March 10, 1903 – August 6, 1931) was an American jazz cornetist, pianist and composer. Beiderbecke was one of the most influential jazz soloists of the 1920s, a cornet player noted for an inventive lyrical a ...

. In Ibiza, Williams began to draw storyboards for an animated film about three misguided idealists. In 1955, Williams left Ibiza and moved to England, where he began working at fellow Canadian George Dunning's company, T.V. Cartoons Ltd., working mainly on television commercials. He also began developing his animated short film, ''The Little Island,'' during this period. Williams later explained that he was drawn back to the craft of animation because his "paintings were trying to move" and he "couldn't stand the idea of doing paintings for rich industrialists’ wives, and that whole art world was just repulsive as a way of life".Obituary of Richard Williams at www.bfi.org.uk 21 August 2019
Retrieved 14 October 2019 In the 1983

Thames Television Thames Television, commonly simplified to just Thames, was a franchise holder for a region of the British ITV television network serving London and surrounding areas from 30 July 1968 until the night of 31 December 1992. Thames Television broa ...

documentary ''The Thief Who Never Gave Up'', Williams credited animator

Bob Godfrey Roland Frederick Godfrey MBE (27 May 1921 – 21 February 2013),t wasa barter system". In the mid-1950s, fellow Canadian Jacques Konig was studying at the University of London: "Dick did not play his cornet and lead his band just for the love of music, it was a significant and necessary contribution to his income. In my role as student president of the University of London's Chelsea College and Chelsea Arts School (1956–57), I booked his hard-driving traditional jazz band for many of our events, and we knew all his available cash was being used to finance his hand-drawn and highly imaginative short film". In 1958, Williams completed '' The Little Island'', the film that launched his career, telling the story of three men on a desert island; each representing a single virtue: truth, beauty, and good. The film won the 1958

BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...

Award for Best Animated Film.

1960s: Richard Williams Animation, film titles, and commercials

The critical and financial success of Williams's next short, ''Love Me, Love Me, Love Me'' (1962), which was narrated by

Kenneth Williams Kenneth Charles Williams (22 February 1926 – 15 April 1988) was a British actor and comedian. He was best known for his comedy roles and in later life as a raconteur and diarist. He was one of the main ensemble in 26 of the 31 ''Carry ...

, enabled him to establish his own company, Richard Williams Animation Ltd. He made the short film ''A Lecture on Man'' that same year. Richard Williams Animation Ltd. eventually completed over 2,500 TV commercials, and won numerous awards, at its home at 13

Soho Square Soho Square is a garden square in Soho, London, hosting since 1954 a ''de facto'' public park leasehold estate, let by the Soho Square Garden Committee to Westminster City Council. It was originally called King Square after Charles II of Engla ...

Soho SoHo, short for "South of Houston Street, Houston Street", is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Since the 1970s, the neighborhood has been the location of many artists' lofts and art galleries, art installations such as The Wall ...

, London. In 1965, he made the short film ''The Dermis Probe'', and also animated the title sequences to '' What's New Pussycat?'' (1965). In 1966, he animated the titles for ''

''. Also in 1966 a television documentary, ''The Creative Person'', was made about his life and work. In 1967, he completed the short film '' Sailor and the Devil'', mainly animated by the illustrator Errol Le Cain, and also animated the title sequence for '' Casino Royale''. In 1968 his studio won accolades for the animated segments in Tony Richardson's epic feature film about the

Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...

, '' The Charge of the Light Brigade'' (1968), which Williams described as "the best job I ever had". Film critic

Vincent Canby Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who was the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in 2000. ...

described Williams' work as “marvellous animated line drawings, done in the style of patriotic mid-19th-century cartoons". In the mid-1960s, Williams began work on the personal project that he intended to be “the best animated feature ever”, based on the tales of Mulla Nasrudin, and initially titled ''Nasrudin''. The project evolved over time and in 1973 he would settle on a new story and title, ''The Thief and the Cobbler''. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Williams hired and brought to London a number of the great Hollywood animators from the 1930s, elderly men who were by then nearing retirement. These included

Art Babbitt Arthur Harold Babitsky (October 8, 1907 – March 4, 1992), better known as Art Babbitt, was an American animator, best known for his work at Walt Disney Animation Studios. He received over 80 awards as an animation director and animator, and a ...

(Goofy), Grim Natwick (Betty Boop), and Ken Harris (Wile E. Coyote). Babbitt, in particular, gave masterclasses at Williams' studio at 13 Soho Square, training a new generation of animators. Following the 1967 release of Disney's ''

The Jungle Book ''The Jungle Book'' is an 1894 collection of stories by the English author Rudyard Kipling. Most of the characters are animals such as Shere Khan the tiger and Baloo the bear, though a principal character is the boy or "man-cub" Mowgli, who ...

'', Williams first met master animator Milt Kahl, with whom he would become friends. Kahl had animated

Shere Khan Shere Khan () is a fictional Bengal tiger featured in the Mowgli stories of Rudyard Kipling's ''The Jungle Book, Jungle Book''. He is often portrayed as the main antagonist in the book's media adaptations, itself an exaggeration of his role in ...

, the tiger, and Williams knelt down to polish his shoes. But Kahl said to him: “You can stop cleaning my shoes because you draw better than I do; but then you can clean them some more because you can't animate.” TV commercials provided Richard Williams Animation with its main source of income. Although Williams despised the form, director Clive Donner persuaded him to raise his game. Following a successful commercial for

Guinness Guinness () is a stout that originated in the brewery of Arthur Guinness at Guinness Brewery, St. James's Gate, Dublin, Ireland, in the 18th century. It is now owned by the British-based Multinational corporation, multinational alcoholic bever ...

beer, set in London's

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London, England. It has a seating capacity of 5,272. Since the hall's opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from many performance genres ...

, which won multiple awards, William's studio became well known for commercials, bringing characters such as Cresta Bear to life.

1970s: ''A Christmas Carol'' and ''The Pink Panther''

In 1971, Williams directed the

-winning ''

'', an animated adaptation of

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...

's 1843 novella. The design of the film was based upon the original 1843 engravings. ''A Christmas Carol'' was broadcast on U.S. television by ABC on December 21, 1971, and released theatrically soon after. In 1972, it won the

Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film The Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film is an award given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) as part of the annual Academy Awards, or Oscars, since the 5th Academy Awards (with different names), covering the year ...

. In around 1973, Williams fell out with his business partners over the feature film ''Nasruddin'', and began to re-imagine the story, which soon morphed into a new tale about a mute thief who is obsessed with stealing three golden balls which protect an ancient city from invasion. Williams animated many of the scenes himself, and spent years perfecting a single scene in which the villainous vizier ZigZag shuffles a deck of cards. In 1975, Williams animated the title credits for

Blake Edwards Blake Edwards (born William Blake Crump; July 26, 1922 – December 15, 2010) was an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Edwards began his career in the 1940s as an actor, but he soon began writing screenplays and radio scripts ...

' '' The Return of the Pink Panther'', and in 1976 his studio completed the animated credits for '' The Pink Panther Strikes Again''.

, who was working for Williams at the time, described his employer's talent: "He's a director, designer, animator, and has a good layman's knowledge of music. He's a dreamer. He has more to learn as far as animation is concerned, but God, he can draw like a bastard". In 1976, Williams did the illustrations for

Idries Shah Idries Shah (; , , ; 16 June 1924 – 23 November 1996), also known as Idris Shah, Indries Shah, né Sayyid, Sayed Idries el-Hashemite, Hashimi (Arabic: ) and by the pen name Arkon Daraul, was an Afghans, Afghan author, thinker and teacher in ...

's English translation of the stories of Nasrudin, titled ''The Exploits of the Incomparable Mullah Nasruddin''. In 1977, Williams directed the full-length animated feature film '' Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure'' (1977), in which his daughter Claire played the part of Marcella.

1980s: ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit''

Richard Williams at the 100 Club with DixSix in 1985

In 1982, Williams directed '' Ziggy's Gift'', a television special in which Ziggy takes a job as a sidewalk Santa. The film won an

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

,Obituary of Richard Williams at the NY Times, 18 August 2019
Retrieved 14 October 2019 and in the same year he appeared in a

documentary titled ''Richard Williams and The Thief Who Never Gave Up''. In 1987, Williams embarked on his biggest project to date, becoming animation director on the

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

/ Spielberg film ''

'' (1988). Williams was initially reluctant to work on the film: when pitched the idea, Williams said to executive producer

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg ( ; born December 18, 1946) is an American filmmaker. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, Spielberg is widely regarded as one of the greatest film directors of all time and is ...

and director

Robert Zemeckis Robert Lee Zemeckis (born May 14, 1952) is an American filmmaker known for directing and producing a range of successful and influential movies, often blending cutting-edge visual effects with storytelling. He has received several accolades incl ...

"I just hate animation and live-action together; it just doesn't work, it's ugly". As he did not want to move to Los Angeles, production was moved to London. Disney and Spielberg promised Williams that in return for doing the film, they would help finance and distribute the still-unfinished '' The Thief and the Cobbler''. Williams designed the characters for the film, including

Jessica Rabbit Jessica Rabbit ( Krupnick) is a fictional character in the novel '' Who Censored Roger Rabbit?'' and its film adaptation, ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit''. She is depicted as the human cartoon wife of Roger Rabbit in various ''Roger Rabbit'' media. ...

. He said of Jessica that she was "the ultimate male fantasy, drawn by a cartoonist. I tried to make her like

Rita Hayworth Rita Hayworth (born Margarita Carmen Cansino; October 17, 1918May 14, 1987) was an American actress, dancer, and Pin-up model, pin-up girl. She achieved fame in the 1940s as one of the top stars of the Classical Hollywood cinema, Golden Age of ...

; we took her hair from Veronica Lake, and Zemeckis kept saying, 'What about the look

Lauren Bacall Betty Joan Perske (September 16, 1924 – August 12, 2014), professionally known as Lauren Bacall ( ), was an American actress. She was named the AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars, 20th-greatest female star of classic Hollywood cinema by the America ...

had?'" Blessed with tremendous energy, Williams barely slept and worked through multiple nights to get the animation finished on time. In 1988, another documentary was released about Williams, titled ''I Drew Roger Rabbit''. In 1989, following the success of ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'', Williams won two more

s for his work, a joint award for Best Special Effects, shared with Ken Ralston, Ed Jones and George Gibbs and a Special Achievement Award. Williams said "I'm (in) the same business as

Goya Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 1746 – 16 April 1828) was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His paintings, drawings, an ...

and

. I may be rotten at it with nothing of the same quality or talent, but that's my business". Apart from animation, Williams's great passion was

Dixieland Dixieland jazz, also referred to as traditional jazz, hot jazz, or simply Dixieland, is a style of jazz based on the music that developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century. The 1917 recordings by the Original Dixieland Jass Band ( ...

jazz. He led an ensemble in London named ''Dix Six'' that played regular gigs at venues such as the PizzaExpress Jazz Club, The

100 Club The 100 Club is a music venue located at 100 Oxford Street, London, England, where it has been hosting live music since 24 October 1942. It was originally called the Feldman Swing Club, but changed its name when the father of the current owner ...

, and the Britannia Hotel in

Grosvenor Square Grosvenor Square ( ) is a large garden square in the Mayfair district of Westminster, Greater London. It is the centrepiece of the Mayfair property of the Duke of Westminster, and takes its name from the duke's surname "Grosvenor". It was deve ...

1990s: ''The Thief and the Cobbler''

Richard Williams'

magnum opus A masterpiece, , or ; ; ) is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, skill, profundity, or workmanship. Historically, ...

, a painstakingly hand-animated epic inspired by the

and with the production title '' The Thief and the Cobbler'', was begun in 1964 and was initially self-funded. As a largely non-verbal feature meant for an adult audience, ''The Thief'' was dismissed at first as unmarketable. After over twenty years of work, Williams had completed only twenty minutes of the film, and following the critical success of ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'', Williams sought and secured a production deal with

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

in 1988. However, the production went over deadline, and in 1992, with only 15 minutes of footage left to complete, The Completion Bond Company, who had insured Warners' financing of the film, feared competition from the similarly themed Disney film ''

Aladdin Aladdin ( ; , , ATU 561, 'Aladdin') is a Middle-Eastern folk tale. It is one of the best-known tales associated with '' One Thousand and One Nights'' (often known in English as ''The Arabian Nights''), despite not being part of the original ...

,'' which was scheduled to open on the same day, and seized the project from Williams in

Camden, London The London Borough of Camden () is a borough in Inner London, England. Camden Town Hall, on Euston Road, lies north of Charing Cross. The borough was established on 1 April 1965 from the former metropolitan boroughs of Holborn, St Pancra ...

. Completion Bond then had animator Fred Calvert supervise the animation process in Korea. New scenes were also animated to include several musical interludes. Calvert's version was released in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

in 1993 as ''The Princess and the Cobbler''.

Miramax Miramax, LLC, formerly known as Miramax Films, is an American independent film and television production and distribution company owned by beIN Media Group and Paramount Global. Based in Los Angeles, California, it was founded on December 19, ...

(which was owned by Disney at the time) then acquired rights to the project and extensively rewrote and re-edited the film to include continuous dialogue, as well as many cuts to lengthy sequences. Miramax's product was released in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

in 1995 under the title ''Arabian Knight''. For a long time, Williams preferred not to discuss the film in detail. Following the collapse of ''The Thief'', Williams closed his company and left the UK for his native Canada, moving with his wife Imogen and their two children to a house in Fulford Harbour on Salt Spring Island,

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

, where the family lived for five years. To earn a living, Williams began to host animation masterclasses, in which he combined his skill as an animator with his talent on the stage, performing around 30 events around the world. In 1992, Williams was awarded an

honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...

by the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public university, public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City, London, White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design uni ...

. In 1997 Williams moved back to the UK, living first in

Pembrokeshire Pembrokeshire ( ; ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. It is bordered by Carmarthenshire to the east, Ceredigion to the northeast, and otherwise by the sea. Haverfordwest is the largest town and ...

and later moving to

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

, where he would remain until the end of his life.

2000s–2010s: ''The Animator's Survival Kit'' and ''Prologue''

Richard Williams at Aardman Animation in 2015

The notes for Williams' masterclass formed the basis for a book on the art of animation and, in 2002,

Faber & Faber Faber and Faber Limited, commonly known as Faber & Faber or simply Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, C. S. Lewis, Margaret S ...

published Williams' acclaimed animation how-to book, '' The Animator's Survival Kit'', with an "expanded edition" following in 2009. The book soon became a key reference for animators, both in print and later on as a DVD box set and an iPad application. The historian

Kevin Brownlow Kevin Brownlow (born Robert Kevin Brownlow; 2 June 1938) is a British film historian, television documentary-maker, filmmaker, author, and film editor. He is best known for his work documenting the history of the silent era, having become inter ...

described the ''ASK'' as “utterly riveting, even to a layman.” From 2008, Williams began to work as artist in residence at

in Bristol, where he worked at one of his original 1938 Disney animation desks. Aardman co-founder Peter Lord described Williams as exemplifying "pure creativity, he seemed to us to work without compromise and for the sheer love of his chosen art-form. No deadlines, except the ones he set himself, nobody to please or answer to, except himself. e wasour special guest, our resident celebrity". Even in his 80s, Williams continued to work every day, and do a full day's work. He liked to enter his office at Aardman by the fire escape "just to avoid people". In 2010, Williams completed his 9-minute short film titled ''Circus Drawings'', first begun in Ibiza in the early 1950s. The silent film, with live accompaniment, premiered at the Pordenone Silent Film Festival in Italy in September 2010. On December 10, 2013, the director's cut of ''The Thief and the Cobbler'', a

workprint A workprint is a rough version of a motion picture or television program, used by the film editors during the editing process. Such copies generally contain original recorded sound that will later be re-dubbed, stock footage as placeholders for ...

of the film, subtitled "A Moment in Time", was screened in Los Angeles. Williams participated in the event. However, a final, finished version of the film as Williams had long envisioned would never be completed. In 2015, his short film ''Prologue'' received both an Oscar nomination and a BAFTA nomination in the category of best animated short. ''Prologue'' was the first six minutes of his hand-drawn feature film ''Lysistrata'', based on the ancient Greek comedy by

Aristophanes Aristophanes (; ; ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek Ancient Greek comedy, comic playwright from Classical Athens, Athens. He wrote in total forty plays, of which eleven survive virtually complete today. The majority of his surviving play ...

, which Williams joked should be sub-titled "Will I Live to Finish It?". Williams described ''Prologue'' as "the only thing so far in my career that I’ve ever really been pleased with." In 2013 Williams told ''The Guardian'', "All I need is some time and five or six assistants who can draw like hell." The film was intended to be "grim but funny and salacious and sexy". Like his version of ''The Thief and the Cobbler'', ''Prologue'' would never be completed. But, as Williams put it: "it's the doing of it that matters. Do it for the love of it. That's all there is".Obituary, ''The Week'', 6 September 2019, page 35

Personal life

Williams married four times. His marriage to Stephanie "Tep" Ashforth in the early 1950s was short-lived; she was reluctant to move to London with him, choosing to remain in Ibiza. In London he met his second wife, Lois Catherine Steuart, daughter of the U.S. diplomat George Hume Steuart; they were married in 1966, and had two children, Alexander Williams, born in 1967, and Claire Williams, born in 1969. Divorce followed in 1976. In 1976 he married a third time, to Margaret French, from Missouri, with whom he had two more children: Timothy Williams, born in 1976, and Holly Williams, born in 1978. Toward the end of his life, he lived in

with his fourth wife, Imogen Sutton, with whom he had two more children, Natasha Sutton-Williams and Leif Sutton-Williams.

Death

Williams died of cancer on August 16, 2019, at his home in Bristol, England, still creating until the very end.

Filmography

Animated shorts and Features *'' The Little Island'' (1958) (director, writer, producer, animator) *''Love Me, Love Me, Love Me'' (1962) (director, producer, animator) *''A Lecture on Man'' (1962) (director, writer, producer, animator) *''The Apple'' (1963) (designer, storyboard artist) *'' Diary of a Madman'' (unfinished,

narration was broadcast by BBC Radio 4, 1991) *'' The Dermis Probe'' (1965) (director, editing, script Idries Shah) *''Sailor and the Devil'' (1965) (producer) *''The Ever-Changing Motor Car'' (1965) (writer) *''I.Vor Pittfalks, the Universal Confidence Man'' (not completed) *''

'' (TV movie) (1971) (director, producer) (Oscar win) *'' Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure'' (1977) (director, production supervisor, animator) *'' Ziggy's Gift'' (TV movie) (1982) (director, producer, voice of Crooked Santa) *''

'' (1988) (animation director, voice of

Droopy Droopy is an animated character from the golden age of American animation. He is an anthropomorphic white Basset Hound with a droopy face. He was created in 1943 by Tex Avery for theatrical cartoon shorts produced by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer c ...

) *'' Tummy Trouble'' (1989) (voice of

) *'' The Thief and the Cobbler'' (1993) (director, screenplay, producer, lead animator, voice of Laughing Brigand) *''Circus Drawings'' (2010) (director, animator) *''

'' (2015) (director, animator) (Oscar nomination)"Bear Story" winning Best Animated Short Film -Oscars on YouTube
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Titles in Live-action films

*'' What's New Pussycat?'' (1965) (titles) *'' The Liquidator'' (1965) (titles) *''

'' (1966) (title designer) *'' The Spy with a Cold Nose'' (1966) (title designer) *'' Casino Royale'' (1967) (titles, montage effects) *'' Sebastian'' (1968) (titles) *'' Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush'' (1968) (title designer) *'' 30 Is a Dangerous Age, Cynthia'' (1968) (graphic titles effects) *'' The Charge of the Light Brigade'' (1968) (title animation) *'' Prudence and the Pill'' (1968) (titles) *'' Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness?'' (1969) (animation director: title sequence) *'' Every Home Should Have One'' (1970) (titles and animated sequences) *'' The Return of the Pink Panther'' (1975) (title animation) *'' The Pink Panther Strikes Again'' (1976) (title animation)

References

Bibliography

''The Exploits of the Incomparable Mullah Nasruddin'' by Idries Shah, Illustrated by Richard Williams. Picador (1976) ASIN: B00698X8LA
Retrieved 14 October 2019 *'' The Animator's Survival Kit: A Manual of Methods, Principles and Formulas for Computer, Stop-motion, Games and Classical Animators'', Faber and Faber, 2002 (expanded edition 2009, adding 'Internet' to the subtitle)
Hunter, Martin, ''Bright Particular Stars: Canadian Performers'', 15 Aug 2016
Retrieved 23 January 2020

External links

Official website
*

at

Cartoon Brew Cartoon Brew is an animation news website created by Amid Amidi and animation historian Jerry Beck that was launched on 15 March 2004. Cartoon Dump It also created '' Cartoon Dump'', a weekly podcast showing poorly made TV cartoons featuring ' ...

*
Richard Williams: Animating Movement
at

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

A Tribute to Animation Master Richard Williams
by Peter Lord
Obituary at BFIObituary at Bristol24/7Obituary at Rolling StoneObituary at The GuardianObituary at The Daily Telegraph
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Richard 1933 births 2019 deaths Animation screenwriters Artists from Toronto Best Visual Effects Academy Award winners Best Visual Effects BAFTA Award winners British animated film directors British animated film producers British animators British comedy film directors British film directors British film producers British male voice actors British storyboard artists Canadian animated film directors Canadian animated film producers Canadian comedy film directors Canadian emigrants to England Canadian male voice actors Canadian storyboard artists Deaths from cancer in England Directors of Best Animated Short Academy Award winners Film and television title designers Film directors from Toronto Film producers from Ontario Male actors from Toronto Northern Secondary School alumni Primetime Emmy Award winners Producers who won the Best Animated Short Academy Award Special Achievement Academy Award winners Walt Disney Animation Studios people Writers from Toronto