Lee Gunther (May 30, 1935 – August 25, 1998) was a co-founder of

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 ...

and a

film editor Film editing is both a creative and a technical part of the post-production process of filmmaking. The term is derived from the traditional process of working with film which increasingly involves the use of digital technology. The film edit ...

(which, in animation parlance, means

sound effect A sound effect (or audio effect) is an artificially created or enhanced sound, or sound process used to emphasize artistic or other content of films, television shows, live performance, animation, video games, music, or other media. Traditi ...

s editor) on more than 85

animated short Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anima ...

s in all.

Career

Starting at

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

in the 1960s, and then at

DePatie–Freleng Enterprises DePatie–Freleng Enterprises (also known as Mirisch-Geoffrey-DePatie-Freleng Productions when involved with the Mirisch brothers and Geoffrey Productions; and DFE Films) was an American animation production company that was active from 1963 to 1 ...

, he also worked as a production manager in the 1970s. After DePatie–Freleng was sold to Marvel Comics Group in 1981, Gunther became one of the founders of Marvel Productions Ltd., where he served as executive

vice president A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on t ...

and

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights o ...

on television series such as ''

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 ...

'', ''

G.I. Joe ''G.I. Joe'' is an American media franchise and a line of action figures owned and produced by the toy company Hasbro. The initial product offering represented four of the branches of the U.S. armed forces with the Action Soldier ( U.S. Army), Ac ...

'' and '' The Transformers'', as well as the feature-length animation '' Inhumanoids: The Movie''. He also served as vice president of foreign production at

Fox Kids Fox Kids (originally known as Fox Children's Network and later as the Fox Kids Network; stylized as FOX KIDS) was an American children's block programming, programming block and branding for a slate of international children's television channel ...

. In late 1987, he co-founded Gunther-Wahl Productions with Michael Wahl. Their first task was taking over production of ''Alvin and the Chipmunks'' from

Ruby-Spears Productions Ruby-Spears Productions (also known as Ruby-Spears Enterprises) was a Burbank, California–based American entertainment production company that specialized in animation with another branch in Rome, Italy. This company was founded in 1977 by vete ...

in 1988, including the ''Go To the Movies'' series. He then served as executive producer of the animated series ''

The Angry Beavers ''The Angry Beavers'' is an American animated television series created by Mitch Schauer for Nickelodeon. The series revolves around Norbert and Daggett Beaver, two young beaver brothers who have moved out of their parents' home to become bache ...

'' for

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

from 1997 to 2001 and ''

Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa ''Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa'' is a 1992–1993 American animated television series created by comic book artist Ryan Brown, known for his work on ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles''. It aired as part of ABC's Saturday morning lineup. It ...

'' for Greengrass Productions on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

in 1992. He and Wahl also created ''

The Adventures of T-Rex ''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 ...

'' in 1992-1993, shortly after the Mattel Flutter Faeries lawsuit in which his partner Wahl and his wife were involved. Other productions by Gunther-Wahl included the animated adaptation of ''Karate Kid'' for

Coca-Cola Telecommunications Coca-Cola Telecommunications (CCT) was a short-lived first-run syndication unit of Columbia Pictures Television (then a unit of The Coca-Cola Company) created on November 24, 1986, that was a merger between CPT's first-run syndication division an ...

(now

Sony Pictures Television Sony Pictures Television Inc. (abbreviated as SPT) is an American television production and distribution studio. Based at the Sony Pictures Studios complex in Culver City, it is a division of Sony Entertainment's unit Sony Pictures Entertainm ...

) on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

in 1989, and also the short-lived ''G.I. Joe'' animated series from 1990 to 1992 (the preceding ''Operation Dragonfire'' five-part mini-series was produced by

DIC Entertainment DIC Entertainment Corporation (; also known as DIC Audiovisuel, DIC Enterprises, DIC Animation City, DIC Entertainment, L.P., and DIC Productions), branded as The Incredible World of DIC, was an international film and television production comp ...

), as well as '' G.I. Joe Extreme'' (with

Sunbow Entertainment Sunbow Entertainment (known as Sunbow Productions until 1995) was an American animation studio and distributor, founded on June 23, 1980, and owned until May 4, 1998, by Griffin-Bacal Advertising in New York City and in the United States. Griffin ...

and

Graz Entertainment Graz Entertainment is an American licensing and distribution company, run by Jim and Stephanie Graziano, which obtains and provides programming and licensing rights for children's television animation. They currently control ''Z Blade'', ''The Attic ...

from 1995 to 1997), and the cartoon ''Red Planet'' in 1994. In his lifetime, Gunther earned four

Emmy award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

s, two

Humanitas Prize The Humanitas Prize is an award for film and television writing, and is given to writers whose work explores the human condition in a nuanced and meaningful way. It began in 1974 with Father Ellwood "Bud" Kieser—also the founder of Paulist P ...

s, two Golden Reel Awards and 12 Clio awards.

Death

Gunther died of a

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

on August 25, 1998 at age 63. Long-time friend and colleague George Conte, who worked for Murakami-Wolf-Swenson and

Fred Wolf Films Fred Wolf Films is an American animation studio founded in 1967 by Fred Wolf and Jimmy T. Murakami. It was founded as MW (Murakami-Wolf). It later became known as Murakami-Wolf-Swenson (MWS) when Charles Swenson became a full partner in 1978. ...

, and who first met Gunther at DePatie–Freleng, said, "Lee's dedication to quality filmmaking, both technically and creatively placed him at the top of his profession. Because of his strong character and gentle ways, he was respected and loved by all who knew him. He will be missed."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gunther, Lee American television producers American film editors 1935 births 1998 deaths 20th-century American businesspeople