TORONTO — Ryan Larkin, the acclaimed National Film Board animator whose struggle with drug and alcohol problems was the subject of an Oscar-winning animated short two years ago, has died following a battle with cancer.

Larkin, who was himself nominated for an Academy Award in 1969 for his psychedelic animated short "Walking," died on Wednesday in St-Hyacinthe, Que. He was 63.

"He was not only an artistic inspiration but he was very charming - he captivated a room; he was always the centre of attention," Laurie Gordon, his friend and manager, said in an interview Friday.

"He just had that magnetism. He really had something; he had the 'it' factor. He could have been a rock 'n' roll singer."

Larkin was a celebrated animator and filmmaker who was just 19 when he started working for the National Film Board of Canada in 1963. His work during his 14 years with the film board earned him dozens of awards around the world.

But Larkin later succumbed to a combination of creative block and alcohol and cocaine problems, taking to the streets of Montreal as a panhandler. He was propelled back into the spotlight in 2004 as the subject of "Ryan," a digitally animated tribute by Canadian animator Chris Landreth.

The 3-D short film garnered some 30 international awards and took home the Academy Award for best animated short in 2005. But as the glitter of Oscar glory faded from the headlines, it remained life as usual for Larkin - albeit with a little more notoriety.

Recently, Larkin staged something of a comeback doing work for MTV Canada. He crafted three five-second bumpers - branded station identifications that run into or out of commercials on the cable channel.

"It's a poetic statement that I was trying to develop (with the bumpers) - and I think I've succeeded too," he said in an interview last December.

Larkin, who lived at the home of Gordon and her husband in St-Hyacinthe, 60 kilometres from Montreal, was working with her on an animated short film titled "Spare Change" about his experiences on the streets of Montreal.

"I knew, of course, with a diagnosis of lung cancer, there was a possibility he wouldn't be able to see his film, so I am really thankful the MTV thing happened when it happened," said Gordon, a composer and member of the band Chiwawa.

"He got to do interviews about himself, about his new work, not about his old desperate days. It was all new and it was refreshing and it was renewal and it was rebirth and it was about his new work and his new life."

Larkin loved his peaceful life in rural Quebec, she added, saying he was fond of her house full of cats and dogs and his ability to simply "head down the street and have a beer."

"He had a great love of animals and he was a gentle soul," she said. "I know that he had dark moments but the Ry that I knew - that was finished. He was a great creative spirit and just a sweet, charming man. We adopted him and he adopted us and he was very happy and comfortable at the end of his life."

Some of animator Ryan Larkin's short films listed on the NFB website:

• "Syrinx" (1965): The first film by Larkin, "a young artist from Norman McLaren's student group." Larkin used charcoal sketches to illustrate the ancient Greek legend of how Pan made his pipes. Accompanying music is Claude Debussy's "Syrinx" for solo flute.
• "Cityscape" (1966): "An animation experiment in creating continuous metamorphoses on the screen. . . . There is an impression of a succession of creatures moving across the screen, then disappearing into a hole. Eventually the hole changes to a bridge on which stands the youth who began the parade."
• "Walking" (1968): A film that looks at how people walk: "The springing gait of youth, the mincing step of the high-heeled female, the doddering amble of the elderly -- all are registered with humour and individuality."
• "Street Musique" (1972): "Visual improvisation on music. . . . The illustration is by a young film artist and animator who sees life with an amused and imaginative eye."