Richard Williams

Richard Williams was born on Mar 19, 1933 in Canada. Richard Williams's big-screen debut came with Switchin' Kitten directed by Gene Deitch in 1961. Richard Williams is known for The Thief and the Cobbler directed by Richard Williams, Vincent Price stars as ZigZag and Bobbi Page as Princess YumYum (Majestic Films version). Richard Williams has got 11 awards and 2 nominations so far. The most recent award Richard Williams achieved is Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA. The upcoming new movie Richard Williams plays is 100 Greatest Cartoons which will be released on Feb 27, 2005.

The son of commercial artists, Richard Williams studied at the Ontario College of Art and first worked in animation for Disney Studios in Burbank. His tenure there had a strong influence on his later work but proved somewhat stifling to his own creative flair. In 1955, aged 22, Williams moved to England and joined fellow Canadian George Dunning's company T.V. Cartoons Ltd., working primarily on television commercials. At the same time, Williams created his first animated short feature, The Little Island (1958), which won him the 1959 BAFTA Award for Best Animated Film. Though a critical success it received a mixed response at the box office. Consequently, his next venture was aimed at the mainstream market. Love Me, Love Me, Love Me (1962) turned out to be a commercial success and generated enough revenue for Williams to set up his own animation studio. In addition to producing commercials, Williams went on to create memorable title sequences for motion pictures, including Quoi de neuf Pussycat ? (1965), Le Liquidateur (1965), Un micro dans le nez (1966), Le retour de la panthère rose (1975) and Quand la panthère rose s'emmêle (1976). He also produced several animated features, notably A Christmas Carol (1971) and Le voleur et le cordonnier (1993). The latter project underwent numerous rewrites and re-edits and took 31 years to complete. In 1995, it was eventually released by Miramax in the U.S. as Arabian Knight.Possibly the high point of his career was as animation director on Qui veut la peau de Roger Rabbit (1988), for which Williams won two Academy Awards: one for Best Visual Effects and the other for animation direction and (CGI) creation of cartoon characters. An occasional voice-over actor, he also provided the voice for the Tex Avery character Droopy Dog. In 2001, Williams published a text book, entitled The Animator's Survival Kit: A Manual of Methods, Principles, and Formulas for Classical, Computer, Games, Stop Motion, and Internet Animators.