Hey folks, Harry here... The world's greatest gag-man, Joe Ranft has passed away. Years and years ago when I was invited up to the wonderful world of Pixar - the man I spent the most time pal-ing around with was Joe Ranft. I never laughed so hard, nor learned more about animation from one person in my life. Joe was funny as hell, grotesquely talented. How talented? If you saw the rough presentation of the EMPEROR'S NEW GROOVE... back when it was literally the worst animated film I'd ever seen in my life... I felt nothing could save it. Disney brought in Joe Ranft - he was basically screwed by a story that just was junk... and subpar character design work and voice work... and the songs were seven flavors of ass... But damn if it wasn't friggin funny. He drew up gag after gag for that flick and salvaged it from being utterly worthless, to being one I actually own. That said, his work on NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS, TOY STORY and TOY STORY 2 is legend. What makes this particularly sad for me was I was quite close to calling him to work with my writer on one of the projects I'm developing because... I honestly felt he was the funniest man on the planet Earth and just all around good people. This is a major blow to anyone that knew him, but in particular I'm praying that PIXAR is able to recover. The company is filled with the most talented folks in the animation business, but... Ranft... he was magic, classy and had a particular brand of humor that was universally hilarious. This is a TREMENDOUS blow to the world of film, if only because dying at the age of 45 - the films, the jokes and the warmth he'd given us over the next 40 years can barely be conceived off... and that's over. This sucks!

Pixar story man Joe Ranft was killed last night in an automobile accident. Joe was not only responsible for story work on Toy Story, Bugs Life, and Cars, he voiced characters in every Pixar film since Toy Story.

With turns as Heimlich the caterpillar, Wheezy the squeaky toy and Jacques the shrimp in Finding Nemo. Joe was well liked by all, a loving husband and father. From what can be seen throughout the boards in the animation community Joe was a big part of what made animation so good.

He will be missed.

J.