The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) has shared news of the death of Robert Verrall. The veteran animator, director and film producer died in Montreal on January 17, at the age of 97.
Born in Toronto on January 13, 1928, Verrall was one of the early generation of Canadian film pioneers at the NFB, where he worked from 1945 to 1987. Over the course of this more than 40-year career, his films earned accolades from the BAFTAs, Cannes and Venice Film Festival, as well as six Academy Award nominations.
Verrall began his career at the NFB in 1945 as a summer student and joined the staff of the animation department the following year, when he was hired by Norman McLaren. He apprenticed with McLaren and formed a close association with Colin Low and Wolf Koenig; the trio collaborated on The Romance of Transportation in Canada, which won best animated short at Cannes and was the first NFB film nominated in an animation category at the Academy Awards.
From 1967 to 1972, Verrall served as head of the NFB’s Animation Department, and produced notable short films including Ryan Larkin’s Oscar-nominated Walking (1968), Yvon Mallette’s Boomsville (1968), Zlatko Grgić’s Hot Stuff (1971) and Barrie Nelson’s Propaganda Message (1974).
During this time, Verrall directed Cosmic Zoom (1968), a non-dialog hand-drawn piece which “transports us from the farthest conceivable point of the universe to the tiniest particle of existence, an atom of a living human cell.” (You can purchase it to watch on nfb.ca.)
In 1972, Verrall became Director of English Production, a post he held until 1976. During his term he was responsible for extending NFB production activities to Toronto and Winnipeg while helping to establish Studio D, the NFB’s legendary women’s filmmaking unit, and Studio B, responsible for drama, both based in Montreal.
In 1977, he was appointed Executive Producer of Special Projects, which included the Canada Vignettes program and Paul Cowan’s Oscar-nominated Commonwealth Games film, Going the Distance.
In September 1980, Verrall was named head of Studio B and was instrumental in carrying out the NFB’s commitment to the co-production of feature films and television dramas, with titles such as The Wars, Empire Inc. and The Tin Flute/Bonheur d’occasion.
Verrall is credited with directing or producing more than 50 films during his lifelong career at the NFB. He retired in 1986 to his farm in the Eastern Townships of Quebec. In 2012, hew was interviewed by Joanne Robertson for the NFB anthology docuseries Making Movie History (stream for free here.)
The prolific and accomplished artist is survived by his son, David Verrall, who followed in Robert’s footsteps as a producer and executive producer for animation. David joined the NFB in 1977 and headed the English Animation Studio in Montreal before his own retirement in 2011.
[Source: NFB]
