Ryan Larkin

As a teenager, Ryan Larkin studied at the Art School of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts under the tutelage of Arthur Lismer, and clearly showed sharp talent for character and figure drawing. In the early 1960s, he was hired by the National Film Board of Canada, and was immediately recognized by NFB's Norman McLaren as one of the brightest new artists in that organization. Norman personally took Ryan on as a protégé; and gave him the resources to create two animated short films: Citérama (1966) ("Cityscape") in 1963 and Syrinx (1965) in 1964. The latter film won worldwide recognition and propelled Ryan to even more ambitious projects. Ryan's next film, Walking (1968) ("Walking"), gave him not only recognition but celebrity. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. He was given write-ups in Time Magazine and called the "Frank Zappa or George Harrison of Animation" by the Montreal Gazette. Ryan's next film, Street Musique (1972), further cemented his star status at the NFB. At this point Ryan began his downward career spiral. He was to make no more films at the NFB, and resigned in 1978. By this time he was a cocaine addict and heavy drinker, and was unable to hold down any work in animation or any other profession. During a period of over a decade, which he describes as a "haze," Ryan lost all his artwork, all his sculptures, all his animation materials, all his money. For a year he lived homeless on the streets of Montreal, only recently finding a home in the Old and begs for spare change from passersby in front of Schwartz's Restaurant on Montreal's Boulevard St. Laurent. After the release of Ryan (2004) he started to try to get back on his career again. He quit drinking and stopped using cocaine, and even produced a few short bumpers for MTV. However, it was too late: Ryan Larkin died on February 14th, 2007, victim of a lung cancer that spread all the way to his brain, putting an end to one of animation's most peculiar personalities.