Gary Goldman

Gary Wayne Goldman (born November 17, 1944) is an American film producer, director, animator, writer and voice actor. He is known for working on films as a partner with Don Bluth such as All Dogs Go to Heaven for his directorial debut, Anastasia, An American Tail, and The Land Before Time. He was an animator at Walt Disney Studios before partnering with Bluth to form Sullivan Bluth Studios and subsequent animation studios. In 1983, he co-produced the innovative, cinematic video game Dragon's Lair. Two similar games followed, Space Ace and Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp.

When Gary Goldman met Don Bluth at Walt Disney Studios in 1972, they became friends, recognizing their shared desire to preserve the heritage of classical animation. Their friendship became a creative partnership that has lasted more than 29 years. Born in Oakland and raised in Watsonville, California, Goldman studied piano and enjoyed model-making and drawing as a youth. He served in the U.S. Air Force (1962-1967) as an electronics technician before receiving an associate of arts degree from Cabrillo College near Santa Cruz, California. In December, 1971, he graduated with a bachelor's degree in fine arts from the University of Hawaii. In early 1972, Goldman joined Walt Disney Productions as an animator. His first assignment was as an "in-betweener," working with the legendary Disney animator Frank Thomas on the film Robin Hood (1973).

He then worked alongside Bluth as an animator on Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too! (1974) and The Rescuers (1976) before serving as directing animator on Pete's Dragon (1977) and The Small One (1978). Hoping to prepare for leadership assignments within the Disney organization, Goldman and Bluth began to probe every aspect of animated production. Goldman co-produced the classically animated television special Banjo, the Woodpile Cat in Bluth's garage. It took four and a half years, working nights and weekends, to produce the special, but it won a National Film Advisory Board award for excellence and a Golden Scroll Award from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. Goldman, Bluth, and John Pomeroy adapted their techniques to Disney projects, but eventually, divided by disagreements over story and production values, all three resigned from Walt Disney Productions to establish themselves independently.

In 1979, Bluth, Goldman, and Pomeroy founded Don Bluth Productions. Their first feature film The Secret of NIMH (1982) won the Saturn Award for Best Animated Feature from the Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Film Academy. Their follow-up effort, An American Tail (1986), was the highest-grossing animated film of its time, ushering in a new era for full-length animated features. The film's theme song, "Somewhere Out There," also received two Grammy Awards and an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song.

Goldman was producer on the animated Laser Disc interactive video games Dragon's Lair (1983) and Space Ace (1983). 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.

In August 1994, Goldman returned from Ireland to head the Fox Animation Studio in Phoenix. He shared the creative leadership with Don Bluth, producing Anastasia (1997), Bartok the Magnificent (1999), and Titan A.E. (2000). In 1999, Goldman co-founded Dragon's Lair LLC. The new company was formed to develop new 3D games, starting with a revamp of Dragon's Lair. Goldman and Bluth re-established their independence with their new production company, Don Bluth Films, Inc., in Phoenix. The 3D game was ultimately titled Dragon's Lair 3D: Return to the Lair, released on PC and consoles between 2002-2003. Goldman voiced the dialogue for Mordroc in the game, succeeding the late Hal Smith, who had previously voiced the evil wizard in Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp.

Together with Bluth, Goldman has worked on pre-production for a Dragon's Lair feature film, an effort spanning across five decades. With the technical assistance of Lavalle Lee, Don Bluth and Gary Goldman decided to seek crowdfunding to develop a traditionally animated feature film presentation. On October 26th, 2015, Bluth and Goldman started a campaign on Kickstarter to fund a teaser trailer for the prequel film. Having only raised $241,579 of its $550,000 target before the original deadline, the project closed, and an Indiegogo page was created instead. In 2017, Bluth and Goldman released an animated presentation pitch for backers titled Dragon's Lair: The Movie, although the pitch never developed into a feature-length animated film.

Trivia

• Development of the Dragon's Lair arcade game was completed in only seven months, and Bluth’s fledgling studio was paid in weekly installments of paper bags filled with thousands of dollars in cash. Since the studio could not afford to hire any live-action models, animators reportedly used photos from Playboy magazines as visual reference for Princess Daphne’s poses and movements. The collection belonged to Goldman, who had conveniently been storing the issues in the attic of the studio after removing them from his private residence at the request of his wife.
• Cardsmiths' Dragon's Lair trading card series includes a sub-series of Autograph cards with Bluth being featured as card A-GG (“GARY GOLDMAN”).

Gallery

Bluth, Pomeroy & Goldman

External Links

• Don Bluth Animation “About Us”