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February 16, 2007

Canadian animator Ryan Larkin dead at 63

Canadian film animator Ryan Larkin, subject of Chris Landreth's Oscar-winning 2004 short Ryan, is dead at 63, writes Lee-Anne Goodman of Canadian Press. "Larkin, who was himself nominated for an Academy Award in 1969 for his psychedelic animated short Walking died on Wednesday in St-Hyacinthe, Quebec. "He was not only an artistic inspiration but he was very charming—he captivated a room; he was always the centre of attention," Laurie Gordon, his friend and manager, said... "He just had that magnetism. He really had something; he had the 'it' factor. He could have been a rock 'n' roll singer." Larkin was a celebrated animator and filmmaker [at] 19 when he started working for the National Film Board of Canada in 1963. His work during his 14 years with the film board earned him dozens of awards... But Larkin later succumbed to a combination of creative block and alcohol and cocaine problems, taking to the streets of Montreal as a panhandler." I hope a Canadian colleague who commented thusly does not mind so much: "He was a talented artist, a mean drunk, a dirty pervert, and a tragic loss." [Details on Larkin's recent efforts, persisting after his diagnosis of lung cancer, at the link; you can read more about his shorts for MTV and his unfinished final film in this December 2006 dispatch from CBC.]