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Richard Williams

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Animator

The Resume

    (March 19, 1933-August 16, 2019)
    Born in Toronto, Canada
    Richard Edmund Williams
    Author of the animation how-to book, The Animator's Survival Kit' (published in 2002)
    Directed the thirty-minute animated 'Christmas Carol' short (1971)
    Also directed 'Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure' (1977) and 'Ziggy's Gift' (1982)
    Served as animation director for Disney's 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit' (1988)
    Best known for his self-financed magnum opus, 'The Thief and the Cobbler' (initiated in 1964 and released as an incomplete project, as 'The Princess and the Cobbler,' in 1993)
    Pioneer in the use of 3-D perspective movement in his animation projects

Why he might be annoying:

    His colleagues expressed difficulty meeting his expectations (he's a perfectionist).
    He was married four times (and the details surrounding the first three marriages are sketchy).
    His Oscar-win for 'Christmas Carol' was controversial, mainly due to its having been a made-for-TV project which production opted to shift to a theatrical release at the last minute.
    As a result, the Academy was pressured into changing its policy, disqualifying any future works initially shown on television.
    He admitted to modeling the design for Roger Rabbit on Tex Avery (specifically Avery's 'cashew nut-shaped head, the swatch of red hair').
    He turned down an offer from Disney, fresh off the success of 'Roger Rabbit,' to direct the animation team for a little movie in pre-production called 'Beauty & the Beast,' not to be distracted from the completion of his pet project, 'Thief & the Cobbler.
    He micromanaged the production of 'Cobbler' - for example, making a painter spend three months on a single scene — of the evil wizard Zig Zag wielding a deck of cards. The entire scene was then scrapped when he decided to change the colors scheme.
    His perfectionism, which suited the pace when he was self-financing the project, clashed with Warner Brothers' timetable when they picked it up in the late 80s. They stripped him of the job and turned duties over to a Korean affiliate to churn it out as quickly as possible.
    By the time 'Cobbler' secured a release via Miramax, it was almost unrecognizable, with bad songs inserted, unnecessary voice actors, and long stretches of the film cut. Williams refused to discuss the debacle for years.

Why he might not be annoying:

    He worked on the title animation for several 'Pink Panther' movies.
    He spent two years painting and playing the trumpet in a jazz band while living in Spain.
    He won a BAFTA Award for Best Animated Film, 'The Little Island' (1958).
    He was responsible for the suggestive advertising logo for Mike Nichols' 'The Graduate' depicting a shapely leg framing Dustin Hoffman's character.
    He won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program for 'Ziggy's Gift' (1982).
    He won two Academy Awards for his work on 'Roger Rabbit,' both for Visual Effects and a 'Special Achievement Award' (1989).
    He provided voice work for the character of 'Droopy the Dog' in 'Roger Rabbit.'
    Chuck Jones later complained that Disney had heavily edited down Williams' most impressive work on 'Roger Rabbit,' specifically the piano duel scene between Donald Duck and Daffy which the two had worked jointly on.
    A majority of the unfinished 'Thief and the Cobbler' is painstakingly hand-drawn, and most of it by Williams himself (he had aspired for it to be the first animated film to be drawn by a single artist).
    The Walt Disney Company has been accused of plagiarizing/copying portions of his 'Cobbler' for the more successful 'Aladdin' - especially regarding the story and character designs (the similarities are uncanny).
    He drew inspiration from Harry Langdon, Harold Lloyd, and Buster Keaton films while working on the animation for Tac 'the cobbler.'
    A fan-made restoration, called 'The Recobbled Cut,' was released in 2006, assembling any and all unused animation cells, audio tracks, and storyboards available, to resemble the desired 'finished product' as closely as possible.

Credit: BoyWiththeGreenHair


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 66 Votes: 48.48% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 6 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 56 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 8 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 7 Votes: 57.14% Annoying