Borge Ring’s Home Destroyed in Fire

Good news: Ninety-one-year-old animation legend Borge Ring is receiving a Winsor McCay Lifetime Achievement Award this weekend at the Annie Awards.

Bad news: His house burned down yesterday. According to animation director Hans Perk, “A fire in the chimney ignited the thatched roof of their old farm in the south-east of Holland.” Thankfully, Borge and his wife Joanika weren’t hurt, but they lost everything including the Oscar that he won for his short Anna and Bella. Borge and his wife ran a bed and breakfast from their home, so in addition to losing all their possessions, the fire also eliminated their primary source of income.

Borge’s daughter Anne-Mieke Bovelett will be in LA to accept the Annie Award on behalf of her father. She has set up a Paypal donation button on her father’s official website BorgeRing.com and writes on the website that an official fundraising effort will be launched soon. This would be an ideal moment for the global animation community to lend a hand to a legend who’s suffered a devastating loss.

UPDATE: A fundraising website has been launched to help Borge and Joanika Ring. Go HERE to help out!

Here’s Borge’s Oscar-winning short Anna and Bella:

And here’s an earlier short he made Oh My Darling, which was also nominated for an Oscar:

(Thanks, Pieter van Cleef)