Ray Goossens (26 October 1924 – 10 December 1998) was a Belgian artist, animator, writer, and director best known for creating the cartoon character Musti.

Biography

Ray Goossens was born in

Merksem Merksem (; former spelling: ''Merxem'') is a district of the municipality and city of Antwerp in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It has 44,808 inhabitants as of 2021. History The history of Merksem goes back to Gallo-Roman times. During that perio ...

, Belgium in 1924. Interested in animation from before

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he founded the AFIM animation studios with Henri Winkeler and Edmond Roex in 1940. They had 15 employees, including later famous comics artists like

Bob de Moor Robert Frans Marie De Moor (20 December 1925 – 26 August 1992), better known under his pen name Bob de Moor, was a Belgian comics creator. Chiefly noted as an artist, he is considered an early master of the Ligne claire style. He wrote and ...

and Jef Nys. They created a number of short animated movies, of which ''Smidje Smee'' was the most successful. After the war, Goossens started working as a comics creator with ''Kleine Zondagsvriend'', a weekly youth magazine. He created a number of series, some based on existing stories like '' Tijl Uilenspiegel'' and '' Reinaert de Vos'', some new like ''Tsjoem'' (a parrot) and ''Snops en de bende''. He also worked as an illustrator for different newspapers and magazines, including ''

Gazet van Antwerpen The (; ; popularly named ''De Frut'') is a Belgian newspaper in Antwerp and Flanders, published by Concentra. History and profile was established in 1891. Its editor was Jan Baptist Napolitaan Van Os, a Catholic. Shortly afterwards, the compa ...

''. He worked as an animator mainly for client's publicity purposes, and in 1957 became

artistic director An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre company or dance company, who handles the organization's artistic direction. They are generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogu ...

of Belvision, the new animation studios of

Le Lombard Le Lombard (), known as Les Éditions du Lombard () until 1989, is a Belgian comic book publisher established in 1946 when '' Tintin'' magazine was launched. Le Lombard became part of Média-Participations since 1986, alongside publishers Darg ...

, one of the major Belgian comics publishers. At first, they created series based on existing comics series like '' Oumpah-pah'', ''

Hergé's Adventures of Tintin ''Hergé's Adventures of Tintin'' () is the first animated television series based on Hergé's popular comic book series, ''The Adventures of Tintin''. The series was produced by Belvision Studios and first aired in 1957. After two books were ...

'' or ''

Chlorophylle Chlorophylle is a Belgian comics series and Raymond Macherot's best known work, alongside '' Sibylline''. It is a fantasy comic about anthropomorphic forest animals, including the title character Chlorophylle, who is a dormouse. Description ...

''. They also made the full-length movie '' Pinocchio in Outer Space''. From 1956 to 1969 he worked as an independent animator and director. In 1967 he directed '' Asterix the Gaul'', the first feature film based on this comic, and in 1968 he joined

Dupuis Éditions Dupuis S.A. () is a Belgium, Belgian publisher of comic albums and magazines. Based in Marcinelle near Charleroi, Dupuis is mostly famous for its comic comics album, albums and magazines. Initially a French language publisher, it now ...

, where he created with the animation studios a number of children's series like '' Tip en Tap'', ''De Pili's'' and '' Musti''. He also directed a series based on the adventures of ''

Boule et Bill ''Boule et Bill'' (known in English as ''Billy & Buddy'') is a popular comics, comic, created in 1959 by Franco-Belgian comics, Belgian Comic book creator, writer-artist Jean Roba in collaboration with Maurice Rosy. In 2003, the artistic responsib ...

''. From 1976 onwards, Ray Goossens taught animation at the R.I.T.C.S in Brussels. His final success as a director followed in 1980, with ''Plons de gekke kikker''. Goossens died aged 74 on 10 December 1998 in Deurne.

Filmography

As director

With AFIM

*1940: ''Metamorfose'', ''Rapi Roum'', and ''Hoe primmeke ter wereld kwam'' *1941: ''Smidje Smee'' *1947: ''De lamme maakt een ritje''

Independent work

*1956: ''Wat 'n vader'' *1958: ''Paviljoen Wetenschappen'' for the

Expo 58 Expo 58, also known as the 1958 Brussels World's Fair (; ), was a world's fair held on the Heysel/Heizel Plateau in Brussels, Belgium, from 17 April to 19 October 1958. It was the first major world's fair registered under the Bureau Internati ...

(Brussels World's Fair) *1959: ''Van zilverzout tot zilverbeeld'' *1960: ''Van katoenbol tot filmonderlaag'' *1967: ''In naam der wet'' *1968: ''Hoera, ik ben vader!'', and ''Er was eens''

With Belvision Studios

*1957-1964: ''

'' *1960: ''Le bosquet hanté'' *1961: ''Boothill Mc Gall, sheriff'' and ''Coin-coin'' *1964: ''Canard à l'orange'' *1965: ''Spaghetti à la romaine'', ''Oumpah-Pah'', and '' Pinocchio in Outer Space'' *1967: '' Asterix the Gaul''

With
Dupuis Éditions Dupuis S.A. () is a Belgium, Belgian publisher of comic albums and magazines. Based in Marcinelle near Charleroi, Dupuis is mostly famous for its comic comics album, albums and magazines. Initially a French language publisher, it now ...

*1968-1982: '' Musti'' (52 episodes of 5 minutes) *1971: '' Tip en Tap'' *1973: ''De Pili's'' *1975: ''

'', and '' Bobo'' *1984: '' Trompo''

With VRT

*1990-1991: ''Musti'' (104 all-new episodes)

As writer

*1983-1991: ''Plons de gekke kikker''

Awards

*1956: First prize at the second Festival of the Belgian Movie, for ''Wat 'n vader''

References

External links

Biography
at

Lambiek Galerie Lambiek is a Dutch comic book store and art gallery in Amsterdam, founded on November 8, 1968 by Kees Kousemaker (, – Bussum Bussum () is a commuter town and former municipality in the Gooi region in the south east of the prov ...

's Comiclopedia (focuses on his comics work)
Biography
in Dutch at Filmhuis Klappei (focuses on his animation) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Goossens, Ray 1924 births 1998 deaths Flemish artists Belgian animators Belgian film directors Belgian comedy film directors Belgian film producers Belgian animated film directors Belgian animated film producers Belgian television writers Belgian television show creators Belgian television directors 20th-century Belgian writers Belgian comics artists Belgian children's book illustrators 20th-century Belgian illustrators People from Merksem