Gary Goldman

Gary Wayne Goldman (born November 17, 1944) is an American film producer, director, animator, writer and voice actor, he is well known for working on films with Don Bluth such as Anastasia, An American Tail, and The Land Before Time. He was an animator at Disney before working at Sullivan Bluth Studios with Bluth.

Early life[]

Goldman was born in Oakland, California and raised in Watsonville, California. As a youth, Goldman was active in sports, an infielder in baseball and quarterback in high school football, he studied piano and enjoyed model-making and drawing. Before devoting himself entirely to the arts, he served as an electronics technician in the United States Air Force from 1962 to 1967, assigned duties in Japan and Germany. He received his Associate of ArtsDegree in 1969 from Cabrillo College, and he graduated in December 1971 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Life Drawing and Art History from the University of Hawaii.

Career[]

Disney[]

Goldman began his career in animation when he joined Walt Disney Productions in February 1972. His first assignment was as an in-betweener to legendary Disney animator Frank Thomas on the film Robin Hood. He then worked alongside Don Bluth, as an animator, on Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too! and The Rescuers before serving as Directing Animator on Pete's Dragon and The Small One.

In an effort to accelerate their skills in preparation for leadership assignments within the Disney organization, Goldman and Bluth began to purchase used animation equipment and probe every aspect of animated production, at Don Bluth's home. United by the common goal of restoring the lost techniques of classical animation, Goldman and Bluth, along with animator John Pomeroy, produced, directed and animated the classically animated 27-minute, filmed-featurette Banjo the Woodpile Cat. Their enthusiasm attracted many other artists at Disney, who came by the garage to contribute their time and artistry to the project. It took four years, working nights and weekends in Bluth's garage. In December 1979, the film was shown at the Egyptian theater in Hollywood and the Peppertree theater in Northridge. It received the National Film Advisory Board Award for Excellence, and the Golden Scroll Award from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. Using what they learned on their project, they attempted to implement their techniques on projects at Disney. Banjo the Woodpile Cat was later shown on ABC Television (June 1982), as a prime time special.

Post-Disney[]

Divided by disagreements over story and production values, Goldman, along with Bluth and Pomeroy, resigned from Walt Disney Productions to establish their independent animation studio, Don Bluth Productions, in 1979. The departure was highly publicized and the trio was dubbed "Disney Defectors" by news reporters.

Since leaving Disney, the team produced several feature films, starting with The Secret of NIMH, which won the Saturn Award for "Best Animated Feature" from the Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Film Academy. In late 1982, composer Jerry Goldsmith introduced them to director Steven Spielberg. Their first collaboration with Spielberg, which began production in January 1985, An American Tail, was released in November 1986 and ushered in a new era of success for the full-length animated feature, becoming the highest-grossing animated film up to that time.

Goldman was a producer on the highly successful animated laser disc interactive video games Dragon's Lair, Space Ace and Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp. Dragon's Lair received the Inkpot Award for the "First Interactive Laser Disc Arcade Game" and an Arkie Award for the "Best Arcade Audio/Visuals". Financial difficulties with their distributor cut them off from financing and forced them to seek protection from bankruptcy in 1984. It was at this time that they met mergers and acquisitions expert, Morris Sullivan, who set up a corporation, Sullivan Studios to allow the trio to continue while the bankruptcy courts slowly settled their company's case against its distributor.

In 1986, Sullivan moved Goldman, Bluth & Pomeroy, and the entire operation, including 87 employees and their families to Dublin, Ireland, at the invitation of IDA Ireland. Their third feature film, The Land Before Time, was their first production created primarily in Ireland. Sullivan transferred much of the ownership of the Dublin studio to the three animators and renamed the company Sullivan Bluth Studios. The company produced six feature films from 1986 until 1994. Sullivan retired in 1991 and the company was renamed Don Bluth Entertainment, Ireland, Ltd.

In August 1994, Goldman and Bluth returned from Ireland to head up the Fox Animation Studio located in Phoenix, Arizona where they shared creative leadership as producers and directors. The first production completed by the studio was the award-winning Anastasia in 1997. Also produced there was Bartok the Magnificent in 1999, and the animated science fiction film Titan A.E.in 2000. A fourth feature film, Africa, was in production when 20th Century Fox shut down its animation facility.

Personal life[]

While in college he married elementary teacher Janith Eileen Brand in April 1968. They separated in 1983 and divorced in 1987. They have two children, Kip and Andrew. In 2001 Goldman & Bluth received Lifetime Achievement Awards for their dedication and contribution to the art of animation from Animation Magazine, and in 2005, at the Savannah Film Festival, Lifetime Achievement Awards for animation, from the Savannah College of Art & Design, to which they gave their animation art archive. Goldman remarried in late 1988 to film cutter Cathy (Bassett) Carr. She and her three children John Carr, Jason Carr and Joanna Carr moved with him to Dublin, Ireland in 1986. Together they have nine grandchildren.

Filmography[]

Film[]

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Producer	Animator	Role
1974	Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too	No	Yes	No	Yes
1977	The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh	No	No	No	Yes
	The Rescuers	No	No	No	Yes
	Pete's Dragon	No	No	No	Yes
1978	The Small One	No	No	No	Yes
1981	The Fox and the Hound	No	No	No	Yes	Uncredited
1982	The Secret of NIMH	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Directing animator
1986	An American Tail	No	No	Yes	No
1988	The Land Before Time	No	No	Yes	No
1989	All Dogs Go to Heaven	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Co-director
1991	Rock-A-Doodle	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
1994	Thumbelina	Yes	No	Yes	No
1994	A Troll in Central Park	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
1995	The Pebble and the Penguin	Yes	No	Yes	No	Co-director
1997	Anastasia	Yes	No	Yes	No	Co-director
1999	Bartok the Magnificent	Yes	No	Yes	No
2000	Titan A.E.	Yes	No	Yes	No
2009	Gift of the Hoopoe	No	No	Yes	No

Awards and nominations[]

Year	Award	Category	Film	Result^[4]
1998	Annie Award	Outstanding Individual Achievement for Directing in an Animated Feature Production Shared with Don Bluth	Anastasia	Nominated
	Annie Award	Outstanding Individual Achievement for Producing in an Animated Feature Production Shared with Don Bluth		Nominated
	Online Film & Television Association Award	Best Animated Picture Shared with Don Bluth		Won
	Satellite Awards	Best Motion Picture, Animated or Mixed Media Shared with Don Bluth		Nominated