Gary Michael Goetzman (born November 6, 1952) is an American film and television producer and actor, and co-founder of the production company

Playtone Playtone (stylized on-screen as PLAY•TONE; a.k.a. The Playtone Company) is an American film and television production company established in 1998 by actor Tom Hanks and producer Gary Goetzman. It was named after the fictional record company ...

with actor

Tom Hanks Thomas Jeffrey Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is an American actor and filmmaker. Known for both his comedic and dramatic roles, he is one of the most popular and recognizable film stars worldwide, and is regarded as an American cultural icon. Ha ...

Life and career

Born in Los Angeles, Goetzman began his career as a child actor. He had starred in the film '' Yours, Mine and Ours'' with

Lucille Ball Lucille Désirée Ball (August 6, 1911 – April 26, 1989) was an American actress, comedienne and producer. She was nominated for 13 Primetime Emmy Awards, winning five times, and was the recipient of several other accolades, such as the Golden ...

, appeared on ''

The Ed Sullivan Show ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' is an American television program, television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York City, New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in Septembe ...

'', and eventually started a

waterbed A waterbed, water mattress, or flotation mattress is a bed or mattress filled with water. Waterbeds intended for medical therapies appear in various reports through the 19th century. The modern version, invented in San Francisco and patented in 1 ...

company and

pinball Pinball games are a family of games in which a ball is propelled into a specially designed table where it bounces off various obstacles, scoring points either en route or when it comes to rest. Historically the board was studded with nails call ...

arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated game machine ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware ** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board * Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games * ...

. Goetzman at one time delivered a waterbed to

Jon Peters John Peters (born June 2, 1945) is an American film producer and former hairdresser. Early life Peters was born on June 2, 1945 in Van Nuys, California. Peters is of Cherokee (father) and Italian (mother) descent. While growing up in a rough ne ...

's home. His exploits as a performer and a salesman inspired his friend

Paul Thomas Anderson Paul Thomas Anderson (born June 26, 1970), also known by his initials PTA, is an American filmmaker. He made his feature-film debut with ''Hard Eight (film), Hard Eight'' (1996). He found critical and commercial success with ''Boogie Nights'' ( ...

's 2021 film ''

Licorice Pizza ''Licorice Pizza'' is a 2021 American comedy drama, comedy-drama film written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. It stars Alana Haim and Cooper Hoffman in their film debuts, alongside an ensemble supporting cast including Sean Penn, Tom Wait ...

''. In 1984, he produced the

Talking Heads Talking Heads were an American rock band formed in 1975 in New York City and active until 1991.Talkin ...

concert film ''

Stop Making Sense ''Stop Making Sense'' is a 1984 American concert film featuring a live performance by the American rock band Talking Heads. Directed by Jonathan Demme, it was shot over the course of three nights at Hollywood's Pantages Theater in December 198 ...

'' with director Jonathan Demme. That initiated a successful run as a music supervisor, on such films as '' Something Wild'', ''

Colors Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are associa ...

'', ''

Modern Girls ''Modern Girls'' is a 1986 American comedy film directed by Jerry Kramer, starring Virginia Madsen, Daphne Zuniga and Cynthia Gibb. Plot summary Three women in their early 20s, Margo, Kelly, and Cece, are roommates living in Los Angeles worki ...

'' and ''

Married to the Mob ''Married to the Mob'' is a 1988 American crime comedy film directed by Jonathan Demme, and starring Michelle Pfeiffer, Matthew Modine, Dean Stockwell, Mercedes Ruehl, and Alec Baldwin. Pfeiffer plays Angela de Marco, a gangster's widow from B ...

'', among many others. In 1991, producer Goetzman and director Demme again collaborated to make '' The Silence of the Lambs'', which garnered the top five Academy Awards including Best Picture. In 1993, Goetzman was executive producer of Demme's ''

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

'', starring Tom Hanks, beginning a working relationship with Hanks. Goetzman co-produced Hanks's 1996 directorial debut, ''

That Thing You Do! ''That Thing You Do!'' is a 1996 American comedy film co-starring, written, and directed by Tom Hanks, in his feature writing and directorial debut. It tells the story of the rise and fall of a fictional 1960s one-hit wonder pop band, and sta ...

'' The two then co-founded

in 1998. Since then, Goetzman has produced hit films including ''

My Big Fat Greek Wedding ''My Big Fat Greek Wedding'' is a 2002 romantic comedy film directed by Joel Zwick and written by Nia Vardalos, who also stars in the film as Fotoula "Toula" Portokalos, a middle class Greek American woman who falls in love with White Anglo-Saxo ...

'', ''

The Polar Express ''The Polar Express'' is a children's book written and illustrated by Chris Van Allsburg and published by Houghton Mifflin in 1985. The book is now widely considered to be a classic Christmas story for young children. It was praised for its detai ...

'', '' Charlie Wilson's War'' and '' Mamma Mia!'' Goetzman has also received several Emmy Awards for HBO mini-series '' Band of Brothers'', '' The Pacific'', ''

John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Befor ...

'', ''

Game Change ''Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime'' is a book by political journalists John Heilemann and Mark Halperin about the 2008 United States presidential election. Released on January 11, 2010, it was a ...

'' and '' Olive Kitteridge''. Aside from producing films, Goetzman has been known to play small parts in movies he is connected to. He has also enjoyed a successful parallel career as a music composer and producer, working with such artists as Smokey Robinson,

Natalie Cole Natalie Maria Cole (February 6, 1950 – December 31, 2015) was an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She was the daughter of American singer and jazz pianist Nat King Cole. She rose to success in the mid-1970s as an R&B singer with the h ...

Jane Child Jane Richmond Hyslop (born 15 February 1967), known professionally as Jane Child, is a Canadian singer, songwriter and record-producer best known for her hit single " Don't Wanna Fall in Love". She is also known for her unusual fashion style, w ...

Thelma Houston Thelma Houston ( Jackson; born May 7, 1946) Retrieved . is an American singer. Beginning her recording career in the late 1960s, Houston scored a number-one hit record in 1977 with her recording of " Don't Leave Me This Way", which won the Gramm ...

, and

The Staples Singers The Staple Singers were an American gospel, soul, and R&B singing group. Roebuck "Pops" Staples (December 28, 1914 – December 19, 2000), the patriarch of the family, formed the group with his children Cleotha (April 11, 1934 – February 21 ...

. He currently sits on the National board of directors for the

Producers Guild of America The Producers Guild of America (PGA) is a 501(c)(6) trade association representing television producers, film producers and New media, New Media producers in the United States. The PGA's membership includes over 8,000 members of the producing esta ...

. Goetzman is executive producer (with Tom Hanks and Mark Herzog) of the CNN exclusive documentary miniseries ''

The Sixties File:1960s montage.png, Clockwise from top left: U.S. soldiers during the Vietnam War; the Beatles led the British Invasion of the U.S. music market; a half-a-million people participate in the Woodstock, 1969 Woodstock Festival; Neil Armstrong ...

'' (2014), ''

The Seventies File:1970s decade montage.jpg, Clockwise from top left: U.S. President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office following the Watergate scandal in 1974; The United States was still involved in the Vietnam War i ...

'' (2015), ''

The Eighties File:1980s replacement montage02.PNG, 420px, From left, clockwise: The first Space Shuttle, '' Columbia'', lifts off in 1981; US president Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev ease tensions between the two superpowers, leading to th ...

'' (2016), and '' The Nineties'' (2017).

Filmography

He was a producer in all films unless otherwise noted.

Film

;As an actor ;Music department ;Soundtrack ;Production manager ;Thanks

Television

;As an actor ;Soundtrack ;Miscellaneous crew ;Thanks

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Goetzman, Gary 1952 births American film producers American film studio executives Living people American male child actors