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It's not often that I cry, and certainly not this much, but the impact Richard Williams and his work has left on me is indescribable, and the grief, shock and heartbreak after hearing of his passing on Friday evening is too much for me to bear.
I first learned of the existence of The Thief and the Cobbler from Doug Walker. The rest is history. I fell in love with Tack, the little cobbler, and since learning more about his work and life I longed to be a creator in the same vein. I don't think there was any other animator, or any other person, who motivated and inspired me the way he did. I will never know what it was like to work at his studio in Soho throughout the 1970s and 1980s. There is part of me that wishes I could go back in time, be a fly on the wall and watch and learn just how they did things there. I wish I could have been one of the many animators who got a chance to work on those incredible films, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, The Thief and the Cobbler, and the hundreds of advertisments and title sequences. Sadly I was born too late, in 1993, just months after the studio closed its doors.
I had the honour and privilege of meeting Dick at the BFI once last November for a screening of The Thief and the Cobbler: A Moment in Time, and a fortnight later for a screening of A Christmas Carol, one of his first great achievements in 1970. I remember the first time I walked into the BFI after getting my ticket from the box office, walking past the cafe and seeing a face that I could recognise, and being head over heels with joy when I was told that it was who I thought it was.
I shook his hand, gave him a drawing of Tack, with the message 'thank you for creating him, and all of the other wonderful characters.' When the time came for the Q&A after the screening and standing ovation, I was the last one to be handed the microphone to ask a couple of questions: 'Was a multiplane camera system used for the more complex shots?' 'What inspired the creation of Tack as a replacement for Nasruddin?' Now more than ever I am so grateful to the phone repairman who managed to mend my old phone and salvage that audio recording of that night!
The second and last time I would ever see him again was weeks before Christmas. He remembered my face from the last time we had met, and signed my ticket, which I still have and will treasure forever. Had I known that it would be the very last time I would be saying goodbye to him and that I would never get another chance again, I would have said so much more. I would have broken down into an inconsolable fit of tears. But I am so glad and so grateful that I got to see him less than a year before his death. I can only hope that the Tack drawing I handed him was of satisfactory quality.
Tack himself is more than just a favourite cartoon character. To me, he is a friend. He's somebody who has helped me through my darkest times and helped me cope with my ongoing battles with depression and anxiety. He is somebody who has given so much happiness to me throughout the years of knowing him, has been somebody that I can think of during my saddest times, and now, when my heart is broken he provides me with even more comfort than ever. Despite being just a cobbler made of pencil, pen and ink, regardless of whether or not he's a mere drawing, he is as real to me as anybody is. I have Richard Williams, Howard Blake, and all of his creators to thank for bringing him into the world.
Amongst these happy memories I will never forget the excitement I felt as a child sitting down on Christmas Eve or New Year's Day to watch broadcasts of Who Framed Roger Rabbit as a festive treat. It seems that now, Richard Williams and his creations are closer to my heart and more precious to me than ever before, even if I now can't even sit through Candy Hearts and Paper Flowers and The Thief and the Cobbler without tears in my eyes.
The fact that Williams' death was caused by cancer, is in retrospect, even more heart-wrenching, as so few of us knew until now, and his death was so sudden and too soon. It's too awful to be true, remembering how happy and healthy he looked when I saw him, how he never gave up and was always so full of life and passion despite life's cruelties. None of us would have known that he was dying. I went to bed last night, hoping that the horrible, tragic news had just been a bad dream, and that I would be relieved when I woke up to find that everything was alright. It hit me like a ton of bricks and my heart being torn out when I realised the truth.
My heart is broken, irreparably so. I imagine that I will be grieving for him for a long time. He was many things to many people, a son, a father, a grandfather, a husband, a teacher, a mentor, a creator, and a friend. To me he was beyond comprehension. His talents were immeasurable. He was a true gift to the animation world and a blessing to all of us, and his contributions to the medium are timeless.
For two years I have been working on a book about Richard Williams, his studio, and most of all, the production of The Thief and the Cobbler, unfinished but loved by so many. I have a long way to go and many much more to type and proof read, and I do so hope that I will manage to complete and publish it, and it will be dedicated to him, in loving memory.
Life may be swift and fleeting, but love's sweet music goes on. Goodbye, and thank you, Richard Edmund Williams, for everything you have done. I love you.
Goodbye, and rest in peace.
In loving memory of Richard Edmund Williams, 1933-2019.

Description

It's not often that I cry, and certainly not this much, but the impact Richard Williams and his work has left on me is indescribable, and the grief, shock and heartbreak after hearing of his passing on Friday evening is too much for me to bear.
I first learned of the existence of The Thief and the Cobbler from Doug Walker. The rest is history. I fell in love with Tack, the little cobbler, and since learning more about his work and life I longed to be a creator in the same vein. I don't think there was any other animator, or any other person, who motivated and inspired me the way he did. I will never know what it was like to work at his studio in Soho throughout the 1970s and 1980s. There is part of me that wishes I could go back in time, be a fly on the wall and watch and learn just how they did things there. I wish I could have been one of the many animators who got a chance to work on those incredible films, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, The Thief and the Cobbler, and the hundreds of advertisments and title sequences. Sadly I was born too late, in 1993, just months after the studio closed its doors.
I had the honour and privilege of meeting Dick at the BFI once last November for a screening of The Thief and the Cobbler: A Moment in Time, and a fortnight later for a screening of A Christmas Carol, one of his first great achievements in 1970. I remember the first time I walked into the BFI after getting my ticket from the box office, walking past the cafe and seeing a face that I could recognise, and being head over heels with joy when I was told that it was who I thought it was.
I shook his hand, gave him a drawing of Tack, with the message 'thank you for creating him, and all of the other wonderful characters.' When the time came for the Q&A after the screening and standing ovation, I was the last one to be handed the microphone to ask a couple of questions: 'Was a multiplane camera system used for the more complex shots?' 'What inspired the creation of Tack as a replacement for Nasruddin?' Now more than ever I am so grateful to the phone repairman who managed to mend my old phone and salvage that audio recording of that night!
The second and last time I would ever see him again was weeks before Christmas. He remembered my face from the last time we had met, and signed my ticket, which I still have and will treasure forever. Had I known that it would be the very last time I would be saying goodbye to him and that I would never get another chance again, I would have said so much more. I would have broken down into an inconsolable fit of tears. But I am so glad and so grateful that I got to see him less than a year before his death. I can only hope that the Tack drawing I handed him was of satisfactory quality.
Tack himself is more than just a favourite cartoon character. To me, he is a friend. He's somebody who has helped me through my darkest times and helped me cope with my ongoing battles with depression and anxiety. He is somebody who has given so much happiness to me throughout the years of knowing him, has been somebody that I can think of during my saddest times, and now, when my heart is broken he provides me with even more comfort than ever. Despite being just a cobbler made of pencil, pen and ink, regardless of whether or not he's a mere drawing, he is as real to me as anybody is. I have Richard Williams, Howard Blake, and all of his creators to thank for bringing him into the world.
Amongst these happy memories I will never forget the excitement I felt as a child sitting down on Christmas Eve or New Year's Day to watch broadcasts of Who Framed Roger Rabbit as a festive treat. It seems that now, Richard Williams and his creations are closer to my heart and more precious to me than ever before, even if I now can't even sit through Candy Hearts and Paper Flowers and The Thief and the Cobbler without tears in my eyes.
The fact that Williams' death was caused by cancer, is in retrospect, even more heart-wrenching, as so few of us knew until now, and his death was so sudden and too soon. It's too awful to be true, remembering how happy and healthy he looked when I saw him, how he never gave up and was always so full of life and passion despite life's cruelties. None of us would have known that he was dying. I went to bed last night, hoping that the horrible, tragic news had just been a bad dream, and that I would be relieved when I woke up to find that everything was alright. It hit me like a ton of bricks and my heart being torn out when I realised the truth.
My heart is broken, irreparably so. I imagine that I will be grieving for him for a long time. He was many things to many people, a son, a father, a grandfather, a husband, a teacher, a mentor, a creator, and a friend. To me he was beyond comprehension. His talents were immeasurable. He was a true gift to the animation world and a blessing to all of us, and his contributions to the medium are timeless.
For two years I have been working on a book about Richard Williams, his studio, and most of all, the production of The Thief and the Cobbler, unfinished but loved by so many. I have a long way to go and many much more to type and proof read, and I do so hope that I will manage to complete and publish it, and it will be dedicated to him, in loving memory.
Life may be swift and fleeting, but love's sweet music goes on. Goodbye, and thank you, Richard Edmund Williams, for everything you have done. I love you.
Goodbye, and rest in peace.
In loving memory of Richard Edmund Williams, 1933-2019.