RIP Richard Williams (1933-2019)

As you all might have heard, and as a few of you still-loyal readers have reminded me, a week ago we lost one of the titans in the world of animation. On August 16, 2019, Richard Williams passed away at the age of 86. I suppose it's meaningless that I will be writing this over a week after his death, but given the stature as one of the most influential and innovative figures in the world of animation, I'll be remiss if I didn't leave something on my blog, especially given that Williams has won an Oscar in this very category.

RIP Will Vinton (1947-2018)

It has been a few months since I last posted, when Dear Basketball won the Oscar. It's now been a week since Cartoon Brew posted a list of the animated short films that have qualified via either public exhibition, festival awards, or Student Academy Awards, but it was not a definitive list, and much of the films that were featured are still only trailers. So I decided not to make a separate post when it wouldn't be much different than what Amid Amidi had already done. Instead, I will take this time to report on another major news event: the death of a previous winner of this category, the legendary stop motion animator Will Vinton, who died earlier today of complications from multiple myeloma.

Jimmy Teruaki Murakami (1933 - 2014)

Well, the animation world is hit by another sad news of the passing of a well respected animator. Earlier today word came out that the first animator of Japanese heritage nominated for the Best Animated Short Oscar has passed away from an undisclosed cause. No, we're not talking about Koji Yamamoto. Instead, we're talking about Murakami Teruaki (村上輝明), better known around the animation world as Jimmy T. Murakami.

Michael Sporn (1946-2014)

It's only been three weeks since the death of Frederic Back, and already we've lost another well-respected Oscar-nominated animator. Michael Sporn, the man behind the Oscar nominated Doctor De Soto and his well respected animation "Splog," has passed away at the age of 64. While Sporn has never won an Oscar, but his works with Weston Woods were a major part of my childhood, and that includes the aforementioned Doctor De Soto. Furthermore, his Splog was a great source of interesting observations into the world of animation from an insider, and often the source of the long-listed animated short films. A cause of death was not mentioned in his obituaries*, although whatever led to it may have explained why we never did get the full longlist this year. Many of his last few posts were related to the work of Miyazaki, including Kaze Tachinu. Regardless, he will be missed.

*Apparently it's pancreatic cancer. Screw pancreatic adenocarcinomas

Here's a good tribute to his work, and Doctor De Soto after the break.

Frederic Back (1924 - 2013)

Christmas is usually a time of joy and cheer. After all, we are celebrating the birth of Christ, who came down for our sins. Unfortunately, sometimes those are times of sadness, as those are the days of passing for some people. Men like Charlie Chaplin and former Rangers manager Billy Martin died on Christmas Day, while Kurosawa regular Toshio Mifune and former Rangers manager Johnny Oates died on Christmas Eve. Well now we can add another figure to those that died around this time: the great French Canadian animator Frederic Back.

Bob Godfrey (1921-2013)

So I've been sick and have been spending most of the past two days just trying to sleep it off. And when I woke up today I found out that some time during my slumber the animation world had lost one of their greatest contributors, and one we've seen several times in the past on this blog. Sadly, the Australian-born British animator Bob Godfrey had passed away at the age of 91. He is greatly remembered in England for his work in children's entertainment, such as the television series Roobarb, Henry's Cat, and Do-It Yourself Film Animation Show, which inspired a whole generation of animators, including 3-time Oscar winner Nick Park. Yet Godfrey's success with the Academy came with completely different types of films, ones that satirizes the British way of life, often with explicit sexual innuendo. His greatest triumph came with his 1975 masterpiece Great, the irreverent musical tribute to the life and career of Victorian-era British engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Great captured the Best Animated Short Oscar in 1975, and was my second favorite nominated film between the years 1972-1981. He received three other nominations, including Kama Sutra Rides Again (1973), Dream Doll (1979, with Zlatko Grgic), and Small Talk (1993). Although those  nominations ended up losing, they helped him leave behind a style and legacy that will remain memorable to fans of animation for a long, long time.

Text of the article after the break.