Richard J. Anobile, a noted author of film books and post production supervisor and producer, died Feb. 10 in Toronto after a brief illness. He was 76.
Born in New York, Anobile wrote more than 30 film books. He started out with books about the Marx brothers, including “Why a Duck” in 1971, followed by “The Marx Brothers Scrapbook,” Anobile co-authored the book with Groucho Marx, and it featured interviews with the then-octogenarian and never-before-seen photos and documents.
Anobile’s other classic comedy works included books about W.C. Fields, Buster Keaton and Laurel and Hardy. His books covered every facet of entertainment, from “Mork and Mindy” and James Whale’s “Frankenstein” to “The Maltese Falcon” and “Psycho.”
The author pioneered the use of the movie frame blow-up technique to recreate entire films in book form, which he used on books about “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” “Alien” and “Star Trek.”
He also worked in production for many years, with a stint at Paramount before becoming a leading post production expert in Canada, supervising shows for Netflix, Amazon, Warner Bros. and others, including “The Strain” with Guillermo del Toro.
A member of the Directors Guild of Canada in Ontario, he recently served as post production caucus head. He was known as a mentor and resource for several generations of up and coming filmmakers.
He is survived by his wife Elizabeth (Golfman) Anobile and her daughter Tamara Kruger.
A celebration of Richard’s life will be held in the spring in Toronto.
