Gary Goddard (born July 18, 1954) is an American producer and director who co-founded the Landmark Entertainment Group. In 2002, he left it to form Gary Goddard Entertainment (GGE), later known as the Goddard Group, an entertainment design firm based in

North Hollywood, Los Angeles North Hollywood is a neighborhood and district in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California. The neighborhood contains the NoHo Arts District, El Portal Theater, several art galleries, and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The ...

, California. The firm reorganized, changed ownership, and was rebranded Legacy Entertainment in 2018 after Goddard left the company following accusations of sexual assault.

Arts career

Theater

Goddard has produced several shows on and off-

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

, including the 2009 revival of ''

Hair Hair is a protein filament that grows from follicles found in the dermis. Hair is one of the defining characteristics of mammals. The human body, apart from areas of glabrous skin, is covered in follicles which produce thick terminal and ...

'' (

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ce ...

winner, Best Revival of a Musical),

Neil LaBute Neil N. LaBute (born March 19, 1963) is an American playwright, film director, and screenwriter. He is best known for a play that he wrote and later adapted for film, ''In the Company of Men'' (1997), which won awards from the Sundance Film Fest ...

's '' reasons to be pretty'' (

nominee, Best Play), '' Jekyll & Hyde'', ''

Jesus Christ Superstar ''Jesus Christ Superstar'' is a sung-through rock opera with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice. Loosely based on the Life of Jesus in the New Testament, Gospels' accounts of Passion of Jesus, the Passion, the work interprets ...

'' (one-night concert event), ''

The Wiz ''The Wiz: The Super Soul Musical "Wonderful Wizard of Oz"'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls (and others) and book by William F. Brown. It is a retelling of L. Frank Baum's children's novel '' The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' ...

'' at

Encores! Encores! is a Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre, Tony-honored concert series dedicated to reviving United States, American Musical theatre, musicals, usually with their original orchestrations. Presented by New York City Center since 1994, E ...

, among others.

Film

Goddard directed the 1987 movie ''

Masters of the Universe ''Masters of the Universe'' (sometimes referred to as the ''He-Man'' or ''She-Ra'' series) is a sword and planet-themed media franchise created by Mattel. The main premise revolves around the conflict between He-Man (the alter ego of Prince A ...

''. Goddard had developed ''Broadway 4D'', a proposed American

musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, but in some cases, they serv ...

to be written and directed by Goddard with

Bryan Singer Bryan Jay Singer (born September 17, 1965) is an American filmmaker. He is the founder of Bad Hat Harry Productions and has produced almost all of the films he has directed, as well as multiple television series. After graduating from the Univ ...

. Produced by Nigel Wright and

Bad Hat Harry Productions Bad Hat Harry Productions, Inc. is an American film and television production company founded by filmmaker Bryan Singer in 1994. It has produced films such as ''The Usual Suspects'' (1995) and the ''X-Men'' film series, as well as television se ...

, the film was in 2014 expected to star

Christina Aguilera Christina María Aguilera ( , ; born December 18, 1980) is an American singer-songwriter, actress and television personality. Recognized as Cultural impact of Christina Aguilera, an influential figure in music and having received Public imag ...

Hugh Jackman Hugh Michael Jackman (born 12 October 1968) is an Australian and British actor, singer, and producer. Beginning in theatre and television, Jackman landed his breakthrough role as Wolverine in the ''X-Men'' film franchise and the Marvel Cinem ...

Matthew Morrison Matthew James Morrison (born October 30, 1978) is an American actor, dancer, and singer, best known for his role as Will Schuester on the Fox television show ''Glee'' (2009–2015). He has starred in multiple Broadway and off-Broadway produ ...

Harvey Fierstein Harvey Forbes Fierstein ( ; born June 6, 1952) is an American actor, playwright, and screenwriter, known for his distinctive gravelly voice. He gained notice for his theater work in '' Torch Song Trilogy'', winning both the Tony Award for Best ...

Lea Salonga Maria Lea Carmen Imutan Salonga, ( ; born February 22, 1971) is a Filipino singer and actress. Known primarily for her work in theatre, she has starred in musicals on Broadway and in the West End. Her accolades include a Tony Award and a L ...

, and George Katt. It was to be shot in

Brooklyn, New York City Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

with a budget of $60 million to $90 million.

Television

Goddard has created several television shows, including '' Captain Power'', ''

Mega Babies ''Mega Babies'' is an animated television series created by the brothers Christian and Yvon Tremblay, who previously had made the Hanna-Barbera show '' SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron''. It is produced by CinéGroupe and Landmark Entertainment ...

'', and '' Skeleton Warriors''.

Entertainment designer

Goddard co-founded Landmark Entertainment Group in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, in 1980. The firm designs theme parks, live entertainment and other visitor attractions, in the United States and other countries. In 2002, he left Landmark and formed the Goddard Group design firm, which was rebranded Legacy Entertainment after he left the company in 2018.

Sexual assault allegations

In April 2014, Goddard and frequent film collaborator

, along with several other filmmakers, were sued by actor Michael Egan III, who alleged that they had

sexually assault Sexual assault is an act of sexual abuse in which one intentionally sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their will. It is a form of sexua ...

ed him when he was a minor and had videotaped some of the assaults. Egan withdrew his lawsuit against Goddard in June 2014. By August of that year, he had dropped his lawsuits against the other defendants as well. On November 10, 2017, actor Anthony Edwards wrote an essay on ''

Medium Medium may refer to: Aircraft *Medium bomber, a class of warplane * Tecma Medium, a French hang glider design Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''The Medium'' (1921 film), a German silent film * ''The Medium'' (1951 film), a film vers ...

'' in which he alleged Goddard molested him and raped his best friend "for years", starting when they were 12 years old. Goddard's publicist denied the allegations. Brian Claflin, an aspiring artist and fashion designer from

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

, accused Goddard of a 1999 sexual assault at his

Beverly Hills Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. A notable and historic suburb of Los Angeles, it is located just southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Beverly Hil ...

residence; Claflin died by suicide in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

in 2014 after having shared his accusations with a law firm and his father.A notorious mansion. An alleged assault by a Hollywood producer. A suicide. What happened to Brian Claflin?
, Garcia-Roberts, Gus. ''Los Angeles Times''. May 11, 2018. Retrieved May 12, 2018.

Filmography

* Monster Plantation (

dark ride A dark ride—or ghost train when horror themed—is an indoor amusement ride on which passengers aboard guided vehicles travel through specially lit scenes that typically contain Animatronics, animation, sound, music and Special effect#Live spe ...

) * Jurassic Park: The Ride (dark ride) *'' T2 3-D: Battle Across Time'' (3D film) *

The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man, also known as The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man – The Ride is a 3D motion simulator and dark ride located at Universal Islands of Adventure in Orlando, Florida. Based on the Marvel Comics superhero Spid ...

(dark ride) *'' Hershey's Really Big 3D Show'' (3D film) *'' Deepo's Undersea 3D Wondershow'' (3D film) *'' Tarzan the Ape Man'' *''

'' (director)

References

External links

*
The Goddard Group homepage

Goddard Film Group homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goddard, Gary 1954 births Living people Disney imagineers People from Blythe, California Film directors from California Six Flags people