Richard Williams (animator)

Richard Williams (born March 19, 1933) is a Canadian–British animator. He is best known for serving as animation director on Disney/Amblin's Who Framed Roger Rabbit and for his unfinished feature film The Thief and the Cobbler. He was also a film title sequence designer and animator; his most famous works in this field included the title sequences to What's New, Pussycat? (1965) and title and linking sequences in The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968). He also animated the eponymous cartoon feline for two of the later Pink Panther films.

Richard Williams emigrated from Toronto to Ibiza in 1953 and then to London in 1955. In 1958 he produced the work that boosted his career and won the 1958 BAFTA Award for Animated Film, The Little Island. In the Thames Television documentary "The Thief Who Never Gave Up" (1982), Williams credits animator Bob Godfrey with giving him his start in the business, "Bob Godfrey helped me...I worked in the basement and would do work in kind, and he would let me use the camera...[it was] a barter system". After his early work in the mid-1960s he directed the Academy Award-winning A Christmas Carol (1971), the full-length feature Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure (1977) and the Emmy-winning television film Ziggy's Gift (1982). He was director of animation on Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), winning two more Oscars for his work. He has written an acclaimed animation how-to book, The Animator's Survival Kit, published in 2002 (expanded edition, 2009). Following this, he completed a 9-minute short film titled Circus Drawings. The silent film, with live accompaniment, premiered at the Pordenone Silent Film Festival in Italy in September 2010.

The Thief and the Cobbler
Richard Williams' magnum opus, a painstakingly hand-animated epic inspired by the Arabian Nights 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. in 1988. 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 animator Fred Calvert supervise the animation process in Korea. New scenes were also animated to include several musical interludes. Calvert's version was released internationally in 1993 as The Princess and the Cobbler. Miramax 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 1995 under the title Arabian Knight. For a long time, Williams preferred not to discuss the film in detail.

On December 10, 2013,  the director's cut, a workprint of the film subtitled "A Moment in Time", was screened in Los Angeles. Williams participated in the event.

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

Filmography
UK USA
 * 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 (1963) (unfinished; Kenneth Williams' narration was broadcast by BBC Radio 4, 1991)
 * The Dermis Probe (1965) (director, writer, editing)
 * The Sailor and the Devil (1965) (producer)
 * The Ever-Changing Motor Car (1965) (writer)
 * What's New Pussycat? (1965) (titles)
 * The Liquidator (1965) (titles)
 * A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (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 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)
 * A Christmas Carol (TV movie) (1971) (director, producer)
 * The Return of the Pink Panther (1975) (title animation)
 * The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976) (title animation)
 * Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure (1977) (director, production supervisor, animator)
 * Ziggy's Gift (TV movie) (1982) (director, producer, voice of Crooked Santa)
 * Bugs Bunny's Wild World of Sports (TV Special)(1988) (assistant animator)
 * Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) (animation director, voice of Droopy)
 * Tummy Trouble (1989) (voice of Droopy)
 * The Thief and the Cobbler (1993) (director, screenplay, producer, lead animator, voice of Laughing Brigand)

Italy
 * Circus Drawings (2010) (director, animator)