Award-winning
animator, film-maker, and video game designer Gary Goldman will speak
Monday, May 1, at North Arkansas College in the John Paul Hammerschmidt
Lecture Series. One of the creators of highly successful animated films
such as An American Tail, Anastasia, and The Land Before Time, Goldman
also developed the
well-known “Dragon’s Lair” video game series.
A community college graduate with an associate degree from Cabrillo College near Santa Cruz, California, Goldman earned a bachelor’s degree in Life Drawing from the University of Hawaii. His first assignment for Walt Disney Productions was working alongside Frank Thomas on the film Robin Hood. He then joined his future business partner, Don Bluth, as an animator on Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too and The Rescuers. He was a directing animator on Pete’s Dragon, The Small One, and The Fox and the Hound.
After leaving Disney to form their own studio, Goldman and Bluth produced several feature films, starting with The Secret of NIMH and An American Tail, which in 1986 earned the biggest box office gross for the first release of an animated film in motion picture history. The film’s title song, "Somewhere Out There,” received two Grammy awards. Bluth and Goldman also created the animated laser disc interactive video games “Dragon’s Lair” and “Space Ace.” Today, these games remain popular among video enthusiasts, and “Dragon's Lair” is one of only three video games on display at the Smithsonian Institute.
In 1986 Goldman and Bluth moved their entire operation, including 87 employees and their families, to Dublin, Ireland, at the invitation of the Irish Government. Their third feature film, The Land Before Time, was their first production finished entirely in Ireland. This was followed by All Dogs Go To Heaven. Some of their most recent projects include Rock-a-Doodle, Thumbelina, A Troll in Central Park, Anastasia, and Titan AE. Don and Gary are now working on a new Dragon's Lair movie which will be released in two years.
This will be the 14th presentation in the JPH Lecture Series. Goldman follows Astronaut and Cosmonaut Dr. Jerry Linenger, Sherpa mountain guide Jamling Tenzing Norgay, CIA officers Tony and Jonna Mendez, internationally syndicated columnist Gwynne Dyer, former North Vietnam prisoner of war Colonel Edward L. Hubbard, 1972 Olympic 800-meter-run champion Dave Wottle, FDNY Chief Richard "Pitch" Picciotto, Harrison native and music therapy specialist Dr. Frederick (Ted) Tims, Savant Syndrome expert Dr. Darold Treffert, retired Wal-Mart senior vice-chairman Don Soderquist, “Homeless to Harvard” heroine Liz Murray, Navy Commander (retired) Scott Waddle of the USS Greeneville, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette staff writer and Iraq war correspondent Amy Schlesing as a speaker in the series.