Richard Williams

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Richard Williams (born on March 19, 1933 in Toronto, Ontario) is a Canadian animator, film director, and film producer, most well known as a film title sequence designer and animator; his most famous works included the title sequences to What's New, Pussycat? (1965), title and linking sequences in The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968) and two of the later Pink Panther films, for which he animated the eponymous cartoon feline.

He began his animation work at Walt Disney Productions and then at United Productions of America in the 1940s, where he apprenticed under notable artists from such as Chuck Jones, Ken Harris, Milt Kahl and Art Babbitt. He emigrated to Spain and then to England in 1955. In 1958 he produced the work that boosted his career, the BAFTA nominated The Little Island. After his noted work in the mid-1960s he went on to direct the Academy Award-winning A Christmas Carol (1971), the clunker (1977) and the Emmy-winning telefilm Ziggy's Gift (1982). He also served as director of animation and on Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) won two more Oscars for his work. He has written an acclaimed animation how-to book, "The Animator's Survival Kit", published in 2000.

Richard Williams' magnum opus, a painstakingly hand-animated epic inspired by the mythology of the Arabian Nights and with the production title The Thief and the Cobbler, was begun in 1968 and was initially self-funded. As a largely non-verbal feature meant for an adult audience, The Thief was initially dismissed 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. in 1990. However, the production went over deadline, and in 1992, with only 15 minutes left to complete, The Completion Bond Company, who had insured Warners' financing of the film, feared competition from the similarly themed Disney film Aladdin and seized the project from Williams in Camden, London. Completion Bond then had the animation completed in Korea under the direction of animator Fred Calvert. Calvert's product was released internationally in 1994 as The Princess and the Cobbler. Miramax then acquired rights to the project and extensively rewrote and reanimated the film to include continuous dialogue and to add several musical interludes. Miramax's product was released in 1995 under the title Arabian Knight.

Personal life

Williams was one of a number of successful people in the entertainment industry to have come from Northern Secondary School in Toronto. Currently, Williams lives in Wales with his fourth wife and two children. Williams also has four children from two of his three previous marriages, including animator Alex Williams and painter Holly Williams-Brock.

External links

[Who is Richard Williams?]
[screenonline: Williams, Richard Biography] - a biography of Richard Williams from screenonline.org.uk. A filmography is also included.
[How to Survive-and Thrive-in Animation] - A review of Richard's acclaimed book, "The Animator's Survival Kit", from Culturedose.net
[Eddie Bowers' The Thief and the Cobbler Page] - a website about Richard Williams' "The Thief and the Cobbler" with articles, clips from the workprint, pictures, and the history of the film.

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