IN MEMORIAM

Remembering the Animation & VFX Greats Who Left Us Last Year

In 2022, we lost many talented men and women who enriched and brightened our world by the remarkable contributions they made to the fields of animation and visual effects. We honor their memory, celebrate their accomplishments and are forever grateful to them for making our world a better and brighter place. We are also thankful to the amazing Tom Sito, for producing The Afternoon of Remembrance each and every year to celebrate the achievements of those who left us this past year. The Animation Guild’s annual event is slated for Sunday, February 26 at noon PST via Zoom.

Gil Alkabetz. Award-winning Israeli-born indie animator and teacher, best known for directing witty, beautifully observed shorts such as Yankale, Rubicon, Morir de Amor, Swamp and One Stormy Night. He was also animation designer on the German cult fave Run Lola Run. Died Sept. 15, age 64 (suicide).

Ron D. Allen. Assistant director on FernGully: The Last Rainforest and production assistant on The Little Mermaid. Died June 6, age 55.

Louie Anderson. Beloved stand-up comedian, actor (Baskets), author and game show host, who created and voiced Emmy-winning animated series Life with Louie, based on his own childhood, which ran on Fox Kids for three seasons (1994-98). Also voiced Gary/Gory on Pickle and Peanut. Died Jan. 21, age 69 (non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma).

Jered Barclay. Veteran actor, director and acting coach. whose career spanned almost nine decades. Animation credits include The Transformers (Cerebros, Dr. Swofford, Sinnertwin), The Smurfs, Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo, Trollkins, The Little Rascals, Richie Rich, Foofur, The Dukes and Paddington Bear. Died July 23, age 91 (MDS leukemia).

Jules Bass. Acclaimed director, producer, lyricist, composer and author who formed the influential Rankin/Bass Animated Entertainment with his friend Arthur Rankin Jr. and produced beloved stop-motion classics such as Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Mad Monster Party, Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town, Peter Cottontail and 2D-animated shows such as Frosty the Snowman, ThunderCats and The Wind in the Willows. Died Oct. 25, age 87.

Carl Angus Bell. Prolific Canadian animator who worked with the likes of Chuck Jones, Ralph Bakshi and Richard Williams at Filmation, Hanna-Barbera and Disney. Notable credits include Horton Hears a Who!, The Phantom Tollbooth, The Lord of the Rings, Heathcliff, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, She-Ra, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, Pocahontas, Mulan and Tarzan. Died March 8, age 91 (heart failure). Anne D. Bernstein. New York-based comedy animation writer and story editor, who was best known for writing shows such as Daria, Downtown, Liquid Television, Celebrity Deathmatch, KaBlam!, The Backyardigans, Tutenstein, Viva Piñata and Angelo Rules. She was also head writer for Super Wings! at Little Airplane and was one of Baboon Animation’s team of expert writers and script doctors. Died Feb. 28, age 60 (Parkinson’s disease).

Claudio Biern Boyd. Well-regarded Spanish TV writer, director, producer and founder of the Spanish animation studio BRB Internacional who created shows such as The World of David the Gnome, Gladiator Academy, Around the World with Willy Fog, Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds and several other global favorites. Died Oct. 17, age 81.

Robert Blalack. Panamanian-born, American VFX artist and founding member of ILM, who designed the Star Wars VistaVision Composite Optical Production pipeline at age 29 and went on to win an Oscar for his work on the 1977 classic and an Emmy for the ABC movie The Day After. Other notable credits include the Cosmos series and movies such as Altered States, Wolfen, Cat People, RoboCop, Airplane and The Blues Brothers. Died Feb. 2, Age 73.

Nick Bososutow. Animation producer who worked on many acclaimed indie shorts and video projects during the ‘70s and ‘80s, including the Oscar-winning Is It Always Right to Be Right?, The Giving Tree, the Oscar-nominated The Legend of John Henry and The Reluctant Dragon. Died Nov. 19, age 82.

Raymond Briggs. Popular English illustrator, graphic novelist and author who is widely celebrated for his 1978 masterpiece The Snowman, which was adapted into the award-winning Channel 4 animated special directed by Dianne Jackson and produced by John Coates in 1982. His books also inspired animated specials and movies such as When the Wind Blows (1986), Father Christmas (1991), The Bear (1998), Fungus the Bogeyman (2004) and Lupus Films’ 2016 feature Ethel & Ernest. Died August 9, age 88.

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Biern Boyd Barry Bruce. Portland-based clay animator, director and designer, who worked at Will Vinton Studios. His credits include shorts such as Martin the Cobbler, Rip Van Winkle, The Little Prince, Dinosaur, A Christmas Gift, the Oscar-nominated The Great Cognito and Return to Oz, Sesame Street and A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas (animation supervisor). He won an Emmy in for his work on the special Claymation Easter and was nominated for two Emmys for directing the Meet the Raisins! TV special and the Claymation Comedy of Horror Show. Died Dec. 14, 2021, age 77 (cancer).

Myrna Bushman. Timing director and checker who worked at Warner Bros., Disney TV, Ruby-Spears Productions and Hanna-Barbera on shows such as Inspector Gadget, Muppet Babies, G.I. Joe, Madeline and Sabrina: The Animated Series. Died Jan. 26, age 85.

Mike Camarillo. Animation designer, layout and prop designer and effects animator who worked on shows such as Bebe’s Kids, Rugrats, The Simpsons, The Powerpuff Girls, Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends and Sym-Bionic Titan and movies such as Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, The Road to El Dorado and Quest for Camelot. Died Dec. 25, 2021, age 57.

Maryanne “Mickie” Caparilli-McGowan. Voice

casting and ADR director who handled the ADR casting/ loop group for numerous animated features from Toy Story and Treasure Planet to Illumination movies such as The Grinch. Died March 12, age 84.

Pat Carroll. Tony-nominated and Emmy- and Grammy-winning stage and screen actress and comedian, best known for voicing Ursula in Disney’s The Little Mermaid. Died July 30, age 95 (pneumonia).

Charles Csuri. American artist and computer art pioneer described by Smithsonian Magazine as “the father of digital art and computer animation.” Died Feb. 27, age 99.

Paul Coker. Influential MAD magazine cartoonist and character designer who inspired the look of animated TV characters such as Frosty the Snowman and Peter Cottontail. Died July 23, age 93.

Robbie Coltrane. Acclaimed Scottish character actor and comedian best known for playing the giant Hagrid in the Harry Potter movies. He also voiced animated characters in Brave, Arthur Christmas, The Tale of Despereaux and The Gruffalo. Died Oct. 14, age 72 (multiple organ failure).

Kevin Conroy. Prolific and hugely popular voice of DC’s Batman in the animated universe, who starred as the Caped Crusader in 60 different productions (including 15 films and 15 series), beginning with Batman: The Animated Series (1992-95) and Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993) and ending with the Multiversus game (2022). Died Nov. 10, age 66 (cancer).

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Eggleston Alice Davis. Costume designer and Disney Legend who dressed some of Disney Parks’ most recognizable animatronics and was married to Disney animator and Imagineer Marc Davis. Died Nov. 3, age 93.

Simon Deitch. Cartoonist, designer and layout designer who worked on The Head and Doug. He was the son of animator/cartoonist Gene Deitch. Died June 21, age 75.

Jennifer Dolce. Annie-nominated editor/associate editor who worked on The Simpsons and features such as The Prophet, The Simpsons Movie, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Trolls, Monsters, Inc., Puss in Boots, Penguins of Madagascar, Luck and others throughout three decades. Age 62.

Borivoj Dovniković-Bordo. Well-regarded Croatian director, animator and caricaturist and prominent member of the Zagreb school of animation style behind titles such as The Great Meeting, The Doll (Lutkica), Krek and Curiosity (Znatizlja). Died Feb. 8, age 91.

Ralph Eggleston. Acclaimed Annie Award-winning writer-director of the 2000 Pixar short For the Birds and prominent production designer on Toy Story, A Bug’s Life, Finding Nemo, WALL•E and the two Incredibles movies. He also contributed to Ratatouille, Up and Soul, and helped craft the original story for Monsters, Inc. and worked on shows such as The Pound Puppies, Garfield: His 9 Lives and The Simpsons. He was the art director for FernGully, Disney’s Aladdin, The Lion King and Pocahontas and DreamWorks’ The Road to El Dorado. Died August 28, age 56 (cancer).

Steve Fickinger. Tony-winning producer (Dear Evan Hansen) who was also director of creative development at Disney Feature Animation, overseeing projects such as Mulan, Tarzan and Lilo & Stitch and supervising the theatrical adaptation of The Lion King. Died June 17, age 62.

Jonathan Finn-Gamiño. Illustrator, character designer and storyboard artist who worked on American Dad! and Big Mouth. Died Jan. 25, age 32.

Bob Fortier. Canadian writer and animator who worked on Rock & Rule, Hippo Tub Co. and Runaway Robots and was the founder of The Animation House studio in Toronto. Died Feb. 4, age 73.

Gérald Forton. French comic-book artist, storyboard artist and model/layout artist who worked on shows such as X-Men: The Animated Series, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and BraveStarr. Died Dec. 16, 2021, age 90.

Jonathan Gales. Architect, animator and BAFTA-winning co-founder of British animation and VFX studio Factory Fifteen (BBC’s Tokyo 2020 promo). Died Nov. 19, age 36 (killed by a suspected drunk driver while using a pedestrian crosswalk in L.A.).

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Kim Evelyn A. R. Gabai. Writer and producer whose credits included Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, Dragon’s Lair, Jem, A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, DuckTales, The Smurfs, The Mask, X-Men: Evolution, Spider-Man: The Animated Series and The Penguins of Madagascar. Died April 30.

Lina Gagnon. Montreal-based animator and educator who began her career as assistant animator on NFB’s Lumaaq: An Eskimo Legend and the Oscar-winning short The Man Who Planted Trees and went on to write and direct the Annecy prize-winning short Beginnings, Dessine Moi une Chanson (Draw Me a Song) and A Family For Maria. Died Feb. 4, age 75.

Sari Gennis. Special effects animator and digital artist, who worked on James and the Giant Peach, The Tigger Movie, Happily Ever After, The Chronicles of Riddick, The Avengers, Star Trek Into Darkness and The Librarians. Died March 14, age 67.

Karl Geurs. Emmy-winning writer, producer and editor whose credits include TaleSpin, Winnie the Pooh and Christmas Too, Goof Troop, Dungeons & Dragons, Barney & Friends, The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Curious George, Tumble Leaf and Pooh’s Grand Adventure. Died May 25, age 74.

Gilbert Gottfried. Instantly recognizable voice actor and comedian who was best known for playing the wisecracking parrot Iago in Disney’s Aladdin (1992). He lent his distinctive voice to numerous characters in series such as The Ren & Stimpy Show, Beavis and Butt-Head, Bobby’s World, The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat, Duckman, Dr. Katz, Superman, Hercules, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, The Emperor’s New School, Fairly OddParents, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012), The Tom and Jerry Show, Justice League Action, Family Guy, Teen Titans Go!, SpongeBob SquarePants, Cyberchase, Kamp Koral, Smiling Friends, Bear in the Big Blue House, Crank Yankers and all the Aladdin sequels, spin-offs and games. Died April 12, age 67 (myotonic muscular dystrophy).

Lori Jo Hanson Garcia. Ink and paint artist, painter and final checker at Hyperion, Hanna-Barbera, Bakshi Productions and Universal who worked on shows such as Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and A Flintstones Christmas Carol. Died Aug. 2, age 66.

Dylan Hoffman. Technical director and rigging artist (Canvas, Kamp Koral). Died Feb. 6, age 33 (motorbike accident).

Jeff Howard. Animator and effects designer whose credits include The Princess and the Frog, The Simpsons Movie, King of the Hill, Dora the Explorer and BraveStarr. Died Aug. 25, age 69.

Blake James. Canadian cinematographer, animator, layout and background artist who worked on many NFB projects as well as films and TV shows such as Heavy Metal, The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin, Dennis the Menace, The Teddy Bears’ Picnic and The Raccoons. Died Nov. 20, age 93.

Kim Jung Gi. South Korean illustrator, cartoonist and manhwa artist who was famous for his large, highly detailed illustrations and drawing from memory at Comic-Con and similar events. Died Oct. 3, age 47 (heart attack).

Angelika Katz. Painter who worked on numerous Hyperion and Disney animated features, including Aladdin, The Lion King, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Mulan, The Emperor’s New Groove and Lilo & Stitch. Died Jan. 3, age 77.

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Nichols Melvin “Mel” Keefer. A layout and design artist who worked for Filmation and Hanna-Barbera on shows such as Jonny Quest, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Groovie Goolies and Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Died Feb. 11, age 95.

Ken Knowlton. Artist and influential computer animation pioneer who developed some of the earliest CG pictures, portraits and films during the two decades he spent at the computing techniques research department at Bell Lab. He was the inventor of BEFLIX, one of the earliest programming languages created for computer graphics. Died June 16, age 91.

Shichirô Kobayashi. Japanese animation director and founder of Kobayashi Production, best known for his work on Ashita no Joe 2, Blood+, Detroit Metal City, Magical Angel Creamy Mami and Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro. Died August 25, age 89 (congestive heart failure).

John Korty. American film director and animator who directed the Emmy-winning live-action TV movie The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman and the animated feature Twice Upon a Time, the first animated movie produced by George Lucas. He also directed several animated shorts for The Electric Company and Sesame Street (including an adaptation of Aesop’s Fables) and Vegetable Soup. Died March 9, age 85.

Angela Lansbury. One of the true stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood whose career spanned eight decades on stage, screen and TV. The London-born Irish-British and American actress was loved by animation fans for voicing Mrs. Potts in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast (1991) as well as Miss Price in Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971) and the Dowager Empress Maria in Don Bluth’s Anastasia (1997). Winner of an Oscar, eight Tonys, 18 Emmys and a Grammy Award. Died Oct. 11, age 96.

Fernando Laverde. Influential Colombian stop-motion pioneer who wrote, directed and shot a trio of animated features: La Pobre Viejecita (1977), Cristóbal Colón (1983) and Martín Fierro (1989). Died May 18, age 88.

Mary Locatell. Background artist and model designer who worked on Lilo & Stitch: The Series, The Prince of Egypt, Shrek and Kronk’s New Groove. Died Feb. 12, age 62.

Anastasia “Staci” Maniskas. Painter at Filmation and Hanna-Barbera whose credits ranged from Bugs Bunny specials to She-Ra: Princess of Power and BraveStarr. Died Feb. 1, age 87.

Burton “Burt” Medall. Animator, animation supervisor and timing director at Disney TV, Warner Bros., Filmation, Bill Melendez and Hanna-Barbera who worked on He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, Ghostbusters, She-Ra: Princess of Power and BraveStarr. Died May 24, age 76.

Tony Mines. Creative British animator who, along with co-director Tim Drage, was a pioneering force in the DIY LEGO filmmaking movement. His early viral shorts ONE: A Space Odyssey and All of the Dead became hugely popular online and led to The LEGO Group reaching out to work with them. His brick-toy oeuvre includes Spider-Man: The Peril of Doc Ock, The Han Solo Affair, Monty Python and the Holy Grail in LEGO and Scary Thriller. Died July 9, age 44 (melanoma cancer).

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Troubetzkoy Robert Morse. Acclaimed character actor best known for his roles in How to Success in Business without Really Trying, The Loved One and Mad Men, who also lent his voice to animated characters in Rankin/Bass’s Jack Frost (voice of Jack), Teen Titans Go!, Animals, Sofia the First, The Legend of Korra, Superman: The Animated Series, The Wild Thornberrys, Rugrats, Tiny Toon Adventures and Pound Puppies. Died April 20, age 90.

George Newall. Co-creator of the iconic educational cartoon series Schoolhouse Rock (19731984), along with fellow ad exec David McCall. Newall and Tom Yohe exec produced and creative directed every episode of the show, which informed young viewers about a range of topics using catchy tunes like “I’m Just a Bill” and “Conjunction Junction.” Died Nov. 30, age 88 (cardiopulmonary arrest).

Nichelle Nichols. Trailblazing actress and singer who became one of the first Black women to be featured on TV in a leading role, playing communications officer Lt. Nyota Uhura in the original Star Trek series (1966-69) and later voicing the character in Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973-74). Nichols also guest starred in shows such as Spider-Man: The Animated Series, Gargoyles, Batman: The Animated Series, The Simpsons, Futurama and Family Guy. Died July 30, age 89.

Manabu Ōhashi. Prolific Japanese director and animator who began his career at Toei Animation at age 15 with Shōnen Ninja Kaze no Fujimaru. After leaving Toei in 1968, he worked at Tatsunoko and Mushi Production and joined Madhouse in 1972. He was famous for his distinctive cloud drawings and for directing the Cloud short for the 1987 Robot Carnival anthology. Died Feb. 12, age 73.

Everett Peck. Illustrator, cartoonist, animator, writer and teacher who was best known for his popular USA Network adult animated series Duckman (1994-1997) and Cartoon Network’s Squirrel Boy (2006-2007). He also worked as visual designer on The Critic, character designer/design consultant on Dragon Tales, Men in Black: The Series, Godzilla: The Series and the Jumanji cartoon and as an animator for Sesame Street. Died June 14, age 71 (cancer).

Vlasta Pospíšilová. Known as the “first dame of Czech animation,” Pospisilova was a well-regarded writer, animator and director who began her career as an assistant animator at Jiří Trnka Studio. Her notable film and TV projects included Fimfárum, Broucci, Pat & Mat, Lady Poverty, Greedy Barka and Three Sisters and One Ring. She received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Anifilm Festival in 2015. Died April 15, age 87.

Gerald Potterton. British-Canadian director, writer, producer and animator who is best known as the director of the cult classic anthology Heavy Metal and his animation work on Yellow Submarine. He was nominated three times for the Best Animated Short Oscar for his work on NFB’s My Financial Career, Christmas Cracker and The Selfish Giant. He also served as animator and sequence director on Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure and story director for Rubik the Amazing Cube. Died Aug. 23, age 91.

Janet Quen. VFX artist who worked on Monkeybone, The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, Mission Impossible 2, Looney Tunes: Back in Action, The Mummy Returns and The Twilight Saga.

Jan Rabson. Prolific actor who voiced Tetsuo in the Streamline dub of Akira and also lent his voice to wide range of supporting characters in Toy Story, A Bug’s Life, Monsters, Inc., Cars, Ponyo, Gatchaman, Mobile Suit Gundam: The Movie Trilogy and Street Fighter II V. Died Oct. 13, age 68 (heart attack).

Ivan Reitman. Czechoslovak-born Canadian filmmaker who will be remembered for popular comedies such as Meatballs, Stripes, Ghostbusters, National Lampoon’s Animal House and Kindergarten Cop. His animation work included the influential adult animated anthology Heavy Metal, the Michael Jordan-Bugs Bunny collaboration Space Jam, Beethoven and Mummies Alive! Died Feb. 12, age 75.

Peter Robbins. Former child actor and voice for Charlie Brown (A Charlie Brown Christmas, It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, A Boy Named Charlie Brown). Died on Jan. 18, age 65 (suicide).

Jan Rogowski. Co-founder of U.K. animation studio Red Star 3D (with Ben Smith) and producer of the 2019 animated feature StarDog and TurboCat as well as the studio’s 4D ride projects The Lost World and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and the upcoming animated feature The Amazing Maurice. Died April 6, age 41.

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Wyatt David Schwartz. Storyboard artist and writer whose credits include The New Looney Tunes, The Spectacular Spider-Man, Johnny Bravo and numerous Scooby-Doo! shows. Died Dec. 30, 2021, age 67.

Jean-Jacques Sempé. French car-

toonist/illustrator (known as Sempé) who created the Petit Nicolas book series with René Goscinny and drew over 100 whimsical covers for The New Yorker. His work inspired several animated and live-action TV series and movies, including the recent Annecy Prize-winning feature Little Nicholas: Happy as Can Be (Le Petit Nicolas: Qu’est-ce qu’on attend pour être heureux?). Died Aug. 11, age 89.

Norma Swank-Haviland. Disney

painter, animation final checker and uncredited voice actor for Chip in Disney’s Chip ‘n’ Dale shorts of the 1940s and ‘50s. Died April, age 97.

Kazuki Takahashi. Hugely popular

Japanese manga artist and creator of YuGi-Oh!, published in Weekly Shonen Jump from 1996 to 2004. The manga inspired the popular trading card game (the best-selling one to date) and global hit anime franchise. Died July 4, age 60 (drowned while trying to rescue three others who were caught in a rip current off the shore of Nago, Okinawa).

Akira Takarada. Japanese film actor best known for his roles in the Godzilla film series and who also voiced Jafar in the Japanese dub of Aladdin movies. Died March 14, age 87.

Eugene Serge Troubetzkoy.

French-born nuclear physicist, pioneer of ray-tracing and co-founder of Blue Sky Studios. Died Sept. 26, age 91.

David Warner. Veteran British actor who voiced characters in Batman: The Animated Series, Spider-Man: The Animated Series, Men in Black: The Series, Gargoyles and Freakazoid! Died July 24, age 80. Wendell Washer. Storyboard and layout artist on shows such as Tweety’s High-Flying Adventure, Flash Gordon and The Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Puppy Hour. He was also storyboard director on The Muppet Babies, My Little Pony: The Movie and Dungeons & Dragons. Died July 8, age 75.

Betty White. Dearly loved American actress and comedian, whose career spanned seven decades and seven Emmy Award wins. Best known for her memorable roles on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Golden Girls and Hot in Cleveland and the movie The Proposal. She lent her voices to numerous animated features and TV shows, including Ponyo, Prep & Landing, The Lorax, Toy Story 4, The Lionhearts, Pound Puppies, King of the Hill, The Simpsons and SpongeBob SquarePants. Died Dec. 31, 2021, age 99.

Ian Wilcox. Background layout artist and designer for Film Roman and Fox Animation whose credits include The Simpsons, Family Guy and King of the Hill. Died April 30, age 66.

Steve Wilzbach. Associate producer of The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie and Eight Crazy Nights, who also worked as scene planner for The Iron Giant, Osmosis Jones and Space Jam. Won a Daytime Emmy for line producing on Tutenstein. Died June 23, age 69.

Sandra “Sandy” Wogatzke. Paint-

er and final checker who worked for Filmation and Hanna-Barbara. Died Jan. 23, age 95.

Derek J. Wyatt. American artist and character designer who worked as designer on Mucha Lucha!, Teen Titans, Legion of Super-Heroes, Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated and Ben 10: Omniverse. He was the art director, lead character designer and color stylist on Transformers: Animated. Died Dec. 16, 2021, age 49. ◆

The list includes names of animation and VFX luminaries who died Dec. 2021 thru Dec. 15, 2022. We will update this list online to reflect all of those who passed away in 2022 after the print deadline.