In memoriam: Will Vinton

The "In Memoriam" segment of the 2019 Academy Awards broadcast featured this tribute to Will Vinton, who passed away on October 4, 2018. I shot this photo in Will's living room in NW Portland shortly after he won an Oscar (barely visible here against his shirt) for his clay-animated short film "Closed Mondays" in 1975. "Closed Mondays" was co-created by Bob Gardiner, who passed away on 2005.

Other Claymation films Will was nominated for are the short films "The Creation" and "The Great Cognito," and the special effects for the feature-length Return to Oz.

Obituaries for Will were published in several major papers across the country, including The NY Times, The Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times.