Gordon Edwynn Hunt (April 26, 1929 – December 17, 2016)
was an American writer, director and actor who worked in television, film, theatre and voice work.
He directed such animated productions as ''
The Jetsons
''The Jetsons'' is an American animated sitcom produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. It originally aired in prime time from September 23, 1962, to March 17, 1963, on ABC, then later aired in reruns via syndication, with new episodes produced ...
'', ''
Scooby-Doo
''Scooby-Doo'' is an American animated media franchise based on an animated television series launched in 1969 and continued through several derivative media. Writers Joe Ruby and Ken Spears created the original series, ''Scooby-Doo, Where Are ...
'', ''
Super Friends
''Super Friends'' is an American animated television series about a team of superheroes, which ran from 1973 to 1985 on ABC as part of its Saturday-morning cartoon lineup. It was produced by Hanna-Barbera and was based on the Justice League of ...
'', ''
The Richie Rich Show'', ''
The Smurfs
''The Smurfs'' (french: Les Schtroumpfs; nl, De Smurfen) is a Belgian comic franchise centered on a fictional colony of small, blue, humanoid creatures who live in mushroom-shaped houses in the forest. ''The Smurfs'' was first created and int ...
'', ''
Pound Puppies
Pound Puppies is a toy line that was created by Tonka in the 1980s. It later inspired an animated TV special, two animated TV series, and a feature film. Shipments of the toys over five years generated sales of $300 million in 35 countries.
Toy ...
'', ''
Tom & Jerry Kids
''Tom & Jerry Kids'' (formerly known as ''Tom & Jerry Kids Show'' in the first season) is an American animated comedy television series co-produced by Hanna-Barbera and Turner Entertainment Co., and starring the cat-and-mouse duo Tom and Jerry a ...
'', ''
The Pirates of Dark Water
''The Pirates of Dark Water'' is an American fantasy animated television series created by David Kirschner and produced by Hanna-Barbera. The series premiered as a five-part miniseries on Fox Kids early 1991. The first season, consisting of 13 ...
'', ''
Droopy, Master Detective
''Droopy, Master Detective'' is an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Cartoons in association with Turner Entertainment, and a spin-off of '' Tom & Jerry Kids''. It debuted on Fox's Saturday morning block Fox Kids and ...
'' and ''
The New Adventures of Captain Planet
''Captain Planet and the Planeteers'' is an American animated environmentalist superhero television series created by Barbara Pyle and Ted Turner and developed by Pyle, Nicholas Boxer, Thom Beers, Andy Heyward, Robby London, Bob Forward and Ca ...
''.
Early life and career
Hunt was born on Friday, April 26, 1929
[ in Pasadena, California, the son of Helen F. (''née'' Roberts; originally Rothenberg) and George Smith Hunt II, an industrial designer. He also had a younger half-brother, director and ]lighting designer
In theatre, a lighting designer (or LD) works with the director, choreographer, set designer, costume designer, and sound designer to create the lighting, atmosphere, and time of day for the production in response to the text while keeping ...
Peter H. Hunt. His mother was from a German-Jewish
The history of the Jews in Germany goes back at least to the year 321, and continued through the Early Middle Ages (5th to 10th centuries CE) and High Middle Ages (''circa'' 1000–1299 CE) when Jewish immigrants founded the Ashkenazi Jewish ...
family. His father was from Minnesota
Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
, and was a Mayflower
''Mayflower'' was an English ship that transported a group of English families, known today as the Pilgrims, from England to the New World in 1620. After a grueling 10 weeks at sea, ''Mayflower'', with 102 passengers and a crew of about 30, r ...
descendant, of English origin.
He had been working as a freelance director in New York City before being hired to work at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, where he served as their casting director for ten years. He was then hired by Joseph Barbera to direct animated series at Hanna-Barbera. His first voice directing job was '' Partridge Family 2200 A.D.'' in 1974.
With a prestigious twenty-year career at Hanna-Barbera, Hunt was now prominent in the voiceover forum, where he was a freelance director for multiple animated productions and video games. As a voice actor, he voiced the character of Wally
Wally may refer to:
Music
* Wally (band), British prog rock band
** ''Wally'' (album), a 1974 album by Wally
* ''La Wally'', an opera by Alfredo Catalani
Other uses
*Wally (given name), a list of people and fictional characters
*WALLY, a propose ...
in the animated adaptation of the comic strip ''Dilbert
''Dilbert'' is an American comic strip written and illustrated by Scott Adams, first published on April 16, 1989. It is known for its satirical office humor about a white-collar, micromanaged office with engineer Dilbert as the title charact ...
''. He has often worked alongside colleague voice directors Ginny McSwain
Ginny McSwain is an American voice actress, voice casting director, and animation production professional from Los Angeles, CA.
Life and career
McSwain graduated from Stephens College in 1974, before moving to Los Angeles. She has worked as cas ...
, Andrea Romano, Kris Zimmerman
Kris Zimmerman Salter is an American voice and casting director in the animation and video game industry. Her major works include the ''Metal Gear Solid'' series. In the cartoons, she has directed episodes for ''Ben 10'', ''The Real Adventures o ...
and Jamie Thomason. McSwain, Romano and Zimmerman had studied under him as animation casting directors and learned the profession from Hunt before becoming voice directors themselves. Andrea Romano considers him to be her mentor, who makes actors feel so comfortable and relaxed that she said, "Nobody does not like Gordon".
He directed many television series, of which most were situation comedies. In 1996, he received the Directors Guild of America Award
The Directors Guild of America Awards are issued annually by the Directors Guild of America. The first DGA Award was an "Honorary Life Member" award issued in 1938 to D. W. Griffith. The statues are made by New York firm, Society Awards.
Catego ...
; "Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy Series" for ''Mad About You
''Mad About You'' is an American television sitcom starring Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt as a married couple in New York City. It initially aired on NBC from September 23, 1992, to May 24, 1999, winning numerous awards including four Golden Glob ...
''s episode ''The Alan Brady Show''. Hunt also voice directed multiple video games. Among the games he worked on are '' Pandemonium'', the '' God of War series'', '' Lair'', ''Final Fantasy XIV
''Final Fantasy XIV'' is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed and published by Square Enix. Directed and produced by Naoki Yoshida, it was released worldwide for Windows and PlayStation 3 in August 2013, as a rep ...
'', '' Blur'', the Legacy of Kain
''Legacy of Kain'' is a series of dark fantasy action-adventure video games primarily developed by Crystal Dynamics and formerly published by Eidos Interactive, then Square Enix Europe after 2009. The first title, '' Blood Omen: Legacy of Kai ...
series, and the '' Uncharted series''. He also served as motion capture director on '' Uncharted: Golden Abyss''.
Personal life
He was the father of actress Helen Hunt from his marriage to photographer Jane Elizabeth Novis; they later divorced. He later married voice actress B.J. Ward in 1995, they remained married until Hunt's death in 2016.
Death
Hunt died in Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
, California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
, on Saturday, December 17, 2016[ of complications from ]Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...
at the age of 87.
Filmography
Recording director
Animated specials and films
Animated shorts
Video games
Actor: animated and film roles
References
External links
Official website
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hunt, Gordon
1929 births
2016 deaths
American casting directors
American voice directors
Male actors from Los Angeles
American television directors
American theatre directors
American male voice actors
20th-century American male actors
21st-century American male actors
American people of English descent
American people of German-Jewish descent
People from Pasadena, California
Deaths from Parkinson's disease
Neurological disease deaths in California
Directors Guild of America Award winners
Hanna-Barbera people