Norman McLaren
1914–1987
Introduction
William Norman McLaren, (11 April 1914 – 27 January 1987) was a Scottish-Canadian animator, director and producer known for his work for the National Film Board of Canada (NFB). He was a pioneer in a number of areas of animation and filmmaking, including hand-drawn animation, drawn-on-film animation, visual music, abstract film, pixilation and graphical sound. McLaren was also an artist and printmaker, and explored his interest in dance in his films.
His films garnered numerous awards, including one Oscar, one Palme d'Or, three BAFTA Awards and six Venice Film Festival awards.
Wikidata identifier
Q716552
Information from Wikipedia, made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License . Accessed February 10, 2026.
Country of birth
United Kingdom
Roles
Artist, animator, cartoonist, cinematographer, muralist, painter
ULAN identifier
500080636
Names
Norman McLaren, Norman MacLaren, William Norman McLaren
Information from the Getty Research Institute's Union List of Artist Names ® (ULAN), made available under the ODC Attribution License. Accessed February 10, 2026.
