Larry Latham (April 15, 1953 – November 2, 2014) was an American animator, artist, producer and director. He was perhaps best known as a producer and director on

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

's animated series ''

TaleSpin ''TaleSpin'' is an American animated television series first aired in 1990 as a preview on Disney Channel and later that year as part of ''The Disney Afternoon''. It features characters adapted from Disney's 1967 animated feature ''The Jungle Boo ...

'', the pilot episode of which earned him a

Primetime Emmy Award The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the Primetime ...

for Outstanding Animated Program. Latham worked on several other Disney productions as a

storyboard artist A storyboard artist (sometimes called a story artist or visualizer) creates storyboards for advertising agencies and film productions. Work A storyboard artist visualizes stories and sketches frames of the story. Quick pencil drawings and marke ...

or designer, including ''

Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears ''Adventures of the Gummi Bears'' is an American animated television series, created by Disney CEO Michael Eisner, produced by Walt Disney Television Animation, and distributed by Buena Vista Television. The series, loosely inspired by the gummy ...

'', ''

Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers may refer to: * ''Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers'' (TV series), 1989 television series * ''Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers'' (film), 2022 film * ''Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers'' (video game), 1990 game based on the TV series ...

'', and '' DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp''. He was also a producer, director, co-creator and storyboard artist on Disney's '' Bonkers''. Latham also directed storyboards on numerous

Hanna-Barbera Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ) was an American animation studio and production company which was active from 1957 to 2001. It was founded on July 7, 1957, by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera following the decision of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to c ...

cartoons, including ''

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 ...

'', '' Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo'', and ''

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 in ...

''. For

Marvel Productions New World Animation Ltd., formerly known as Marvel Productions, was the television and film studio subsidiary of the Marvel Entertainment Group, based in Hollywood, Los Angeles, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. It later became a subsidiary of ...

, he was storyboard director on ''

My Little Pony 'n Friends ''My Little Pony'' is a 1986–1987 American cartoon series, animated television series produced by Sunbow Entertainment, Sunbow Productions and Marvel Productions and animated by Toei Animation and AKOM based on the My Little Pony toys released ...

'' and ''

Spider-Man Spider-Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appeared in the anthology comic book '' Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August 1962) in the ...

''. In 1996, Latham received a nomination for a

Daytime Emmy Award The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences ...

for his work as a storyboard artist on ''

The Tick ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

''. More recently, Latham worked on several

direct-to-video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy was p ...

features for

Universal Cartoon Studios Universal Animation Studios (formerly known as Universal Cartoon Studios) is an American animation studio and a division of Universal Pictures, a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, which is owned by Comcast. It has produced direct-to-video sequels to ...

. Among these were '' An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island'' and '' An American Tail: The Mystery of the Night Monster'', both of which he produced and directed. In 2008, Latham began writing, drawing and publishing a

webcomic Webcomics (also known as online comics or Internet comics) are comics published on a website or mobile app. While many are published exclusively on the web, others are also published in magazines, newspapers, or comic books. Webcomics can be co ...

called ''Lovecraft is Missing'', a project inspired by the works of H. P. Lovecraft and originally conceived by Latham as an animated series. He released the first pages on October 1, 2008, and kept the comic going until his death from

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

on November 2, 2014.

References

External links

* 1953 births 2014 deaths American animators American film directors American film producers American animated film directors American animated film producers American webcomic creators American storyboard artists American television directors American television producers Walt Disney Animation Studios people Hanna-Barbera people Primetime Emmy Award winners Deaths from cancer Place of death missing {{animator-stub