Gary Goldman
Goldman in 2009
Born	Gary Wayne Goldman (1944-11-17)November 17, 1944 (age 80) Oakland, California, U.S.
Occupations	Film producer director animator writer voice actor
Years active	1973–present
Employer(s)	Walt Disney Productions (1972–1979) 20th Century Fox (1994–2000)
Known for	Various animation work withDon Bluth
Spouses	Janith Eileen Brand ​ ​ (m. 1968; div. 1987)​ Cathy Carr ​ (m. 1988)​
Children	2

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 withDon Bluth such asAll Dogs Go to Heaven for hisdirectorial debut,Anastasia,An American Tail, andThe Land Before Time. He was an animator atDisney before working atSullivan Bluth Studios with Bluth.

Goldman was born in Oakland, California and raised inWatsonville, 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 theUnited States Air Force from 1962 to 1967, assigned duties in Japan and Germany. He received hisAssociate of Arts Degree in 1969 fromCabrillo College, and he graduated in December 1971 with aBachelor of Fine Arts degree in Life Drawing and Art History from theUniversity of Hawaii.

Goldman began his career in animation when he joinedWalt Disney Productions in February 1972. His first assignment was as anin-betweener to legendary Disney animatorFrank Thomas on the filmRobin Hood. He then worked alongsideDon Bluth, as an animator, onWinnie the Pooh and Tigger Too! andThe Rescuers before serving as directing animator onPete's Dragon andThe 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 animatorJohn Pomeroy, produced, directed and animated the classically animated 27-minute, filmed-featuretteBanjo 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.

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 withThe Secret of NIMH, which won theSaturn Award for "Best Animated Feature" from the Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Film Academy. In late 1982, composerJerry 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 gamesDragon's Lair,Space Ace andDragon's Lair II: Time Warp.Dragon's Lair received theInkpot 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 toDublin, Ireland, at the invitation ofIDA 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 inPhoenix, Arizona where they shared creative leadership as producers and directors. The first production completed by the studio was the award-winningAnastasia in 1997. Also produced there wasBartok the Magnificent in 1999, and the animated science fiction post-apocalyptic filmTitan A.E. in 2000. A fourth feature film,Africa, was in production when 20th Century Fox shut down its Phoenix animation facility.

Goldman and Bluth have reestablished their independence with their production company Don Bluth Films, Inc., developing feature-length properties. The company established a website where they communicate with theiraudience on a personal level and provide animation information online.

In August 2007, Goldman was named an artist in residence at theSavannah College of Art and Design for the college's 10-week winter quarter starting in January 2008. Goldman lectured on animation, as well as taught undergraduate and graduate level classes in traditional 2-D animation production.^[1]

Goldman has been a member of theAcademy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences since 1978.

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 2000 Goldman & Bluth received Lifetime Achievement Awards for their dedication and contribution to the art of animation fromAnimation Magazine, and in 2005, at the Savannah Film Festival, Lifetime Achievement Awards for animation, from theSavannah 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.

Wikiquote has quotations related toGary Goldman.

• Gary Goldman atIMDb

• Animators from California
• Cabrillo College alumni
• University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa alumni
• Film producers from California
• American animated film directors
• American animated film producers
• Animation screenwriters
• 1944 births
• Living people
• Sullivan Bluth Studios people
• United States Air Force airmen
• People from Watsonville, California
• Film directors from California
• Walt Disney Animation Studios people
• 20th Century Studios people
• People in the computer animation industry
• 20th Century Animation people

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from October 2013
• Pages using infobox person with multiple employers
• Articles with hCards