Will Vinton, an Oscar and Emmy-winning Claymation animator, has died. His passing was announced in a Facebook post by his family on Thursday, says Deadline. He was 70 years old and had suffered from multiple myeloma, a white blood cell cancer.
While I’ll always remember him as the creator of Domino’s Pizza insanely irritating, but lovable Noid, Vinton was also the mind behind the legendary California Raisins. As for us genre fans, he dabbled. In fact, he was nominated for a special effects Oscar for his incredible work on Walter Murch’s cult Return to Oz.
Vinton also was a regular collaborator with Michael Jackson and provided mind-blowing claymation work on three of his most famous projects: Disney’s “Captain EO”, as well as the “Speed Demon” music video for Jackson’s musical anthology feature-length film, Moonwalker (1988).
The artist built an animation studio started in his basement into a multimillion-dollar business, Deadline offers. Along the way, he won an Oscar, Emmy and other awards, but eventually lost control of the company and was dismissed.
He won his Oscar in 1974 for the Best Short Film, Animated for Closed Mondays. He shared the award with Bob Gardiner. His Emmy arrived in 1992 for the Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming One Hour Or Less) for Claymation Easter. The award was shared with four others.
His achievements were massive and he’ll forever be remembered for his contributions in entertainment. We send our thoughts and prayers to his family and friends.
