William L. Snyder

Date of birth : 02/14/1918

Date of death : 06/03/1998

City of birth : Baltimore, Maryland, USA

William L. Snyder was one of the first Americans to conduct business in cold-war Eastern Europe, setting up Rembrandt Films in 1949 for the purpose of film importation. The first film imported, receiving critical acclaim in the US, was Czechoslovakia's "Cisaruv slavik" (1951) (q.v.) [The Emperor's Nightingale], direction by Jiri Trnka, narration by Boris Karloff. He also imported the French classic "Le Ballon rouge" (1956) (q.v.) [The Red Balloon]. In 1959 he joined animator Gene Deitch (former head of UPA Studies, NY) producing cartoons in Prague. They received five Oscar nominations, winning for best animated short subject with "Munro" (1960) (q.v.), a Jules Feiffer tale about a 4-year-old drafted into the army. Rembrandt also pioneered in animating well-know children's books. He died, aged 80, at the Adventist Nursing Home in Livingston, NY, survived by his wife, two daughters Trinka and Dana, and four grandchildren.