‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit’ animator Richard Williams passes away

Richard Williams, the Canadian-British animator who worked on the bouncing cartoon bunny in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, passed away at the age of 86.

The Oscar-winning artist died from cancer at his home in Bristol, England.

His best-known work may be as director of animation for Who Framed Roger Rabbit, a 1988 film that married live action cinema and cartoons from all eras, a process that involved the complicated insertion of animated characters into each individual frame and complex lighting effects. The result — a madcap and slightly dark comedy where “toons” and humans interact seamlessly against a live action film noir background — was a commercial and critical hit and helped revitalise Disney’s dwindling animation department.