PRNewsFoto/Apple Corps Ltd./EMI MusicRobert Balser, one of two men who served as animation director on The Beatles‘ 1968 film Yellow Submarine, has died at the age of 88. Balser’s wife, Cima, told the Animation World Network website that her husband passed away Monday, January 4, at Cedars Sinai hospital in Los Angles from complications of respiratory failure.
Balser, along with Jack Stokes, directed the animation of Yellow Submarine, the memorable feature-length cartoon that starred likenesses of the Fab Four taking a psychedelic journey to the surreal world of Pepperland. According to AWN.com, Balser was responsible for directing and storyboarding all scenes before and after the band reached Pepperland, including segments taking place in Liverpool and in the various seas the submarine navigated.
In a 2012 interview with Guitar World that coincided with the release of a restored version of Yellow Submarine on DVD and Blu-ray, Balser talked about the groundbreaking nature of the movie. “The biggest thing was that we were using lots of the techniques that had been used in experimental films leading up to this,” he explained. “And so this was a chance to have complete freedom to use all those techniques and incorporate them into the film.”
Balser’s credits also included producing the early-’70s Jackson 5 cartoon series, and a segment of the 1981 animated flick Heavy Metal.
Copyright © 2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.