Will Vinton, the Oscar and Emmy-winning Claymation creator of the California Raisins and the Domino’s Pizza Noid, has died. His passing was announced in a Facebook post by his family on Thursday. He was 70 years old and had suffered from multiple myeloma, a white blood cell cancer.
“We grieve heavily as our dad leaves a hole in our lives that will be impossible to fill,” the post said. “His wishes were for us to continue the projects he had started; we will try our best to do so.”
Vinton was born in McMinnville, Oregon, and was called the Godfather of Portland animation. He was the subject of a documentary, “Welcome to My Daydream.”
The artist built an animation studio started in his basement into a multimillion dollar business. 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.
A memorial service will be held in Portland at the No Vacancy Lounge at 235 S.W. 1st Avenue starting at 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 21. In lieu of flowers, the family requests remembrances should be sent to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
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