Academy Award-winning animator, art director and Pixar Animation Studios production designer Ralph Eggleston died Monday after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 56 years old.
Eggleston won the animated short film Oscar for writing and directing the 2001 Pixar film “For the Birds.”
Pixar paid tribute to him, tweeting, “Pixar and the world will always be grateful.”
The animator also served as art director on the original Toy Story, and his work as a cast member has been featured in several Pixar films including “Monsters, Inc.”, “Finding Nemo”, “Wall-E”, “Cars”. Has been observed. “The Incredibles” and “Inside Out.” His last credited work was in 2020’s “Soul,” where he served as a development artist within the art department.
The creative behind “El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera” and “The Book of Life,” George R. Gutierrez, “Adios Maestro Ralph Eggleston,” wrote in a Twitter post. “A true titan of our art form. He reached out to me after ‘Book of Life’ and I will always cherish our conversation. Before many people knew he was sick, he was trying to donate his fantastic art book collection to a Mexican animation school. That’s Ralph.”
Before his time at Pixar, Eggleston’s work was seen in “Fernagli: The Last Rainforest,” “Aladdin,” “The Lion King” and “Pocahontas.”
Eggleston was born in 1965 in Baton Rouge, LA. He won his first Annie Award for Best Individual Achievement in Production Design due to his work on the Pixar classic “Toy Story”. He later won three more Annie Awards for “Finding Nemo” in 2004, “Inside Out” in 2015, and the Winsor McKay Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2016. Eggleston was also honored with the View Visionary Award in 2019.