Robert Leonard Lawrence (December 8, 1919 – September 23, 2004) was an American television and film

producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

, and co-founder of

Grantray-Lawrence Animation Grantray-Lawrence Animation was an animation studio active from 1954 to 1968 and founded by Grant Simmons, Ray Patterson (hence "Grant-Ray"), and Robert L. Lawrence. This animation company produced commercials and low-budget animated television ...

, which is best known for producing the first ''

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 ...

'' cartoon series in 1967.

Career

Lawrence graduated from West Point in 1943, and served as a

First Lieutenant First lieutenant is a commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces; in some forces, it is an appointment. The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations, but in most forces it is sub-divided into a s ...

and then

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

in the United States Fifth Army in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Following the Liberation of Italy, he co-founded Foreign Film Productions with fellow soldier

Rod E. Geiger Rod E. Geiger (1915–2000) was an American movie producer and director, Instrumental for his contributions to Italian Neorealism, working with Federico Fellini and Roberto Rossellini. Credited in the book "The Adventures of Roberto Rossellini, ...

. Together, they secured

distribution Distribution may refer to: Mathematics *Distribution (mathematics), generalized functions used to formulate solutions of partial differential equations * Probability distribution, the probability of a particular value or value range of a vari ...

rights in the United States for

Roberto Rossellini Roberto Gastone Zeffiro Rossellini (8 May 1906 – 3 June 1977) was an Italian film director, producer, and screenwriter. He was one of the most prominent directors of the Italian neorealist cinema, contributing to the movement with films such ...

's film ''

Rome, Open City ''Rome, Open City'' ( it, Roma città aperta, also released as ''Open City'') is a 1945 Italian neorealist war drama film directed by Roberto Rossellini and co-written by Sergio Amidei, Celeste Negarville and Federico Fellini. Set in Rome in 19 ...

'' and co-produced one of his next films, '' Paisan''. After splitting with Geiger in 1946 and resigning his commission in 1947, Lawrence took jobs with

RKO Pictures RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orphe ...

and

NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's var ...

and served as vice-president in charge of Eastern operations for Jerry Fairbanks Productions. In 1952, he founded Robert Lawrence Productions, which produced live-action and animated TV commercials, employing the talents of animators who had previously worked for United Productions of America, such as

Tissa David Thérèse "Tissa" David (January 5, 1921 – August 21, 2012) was a Romanian-born American animator of Hungarian ethnicity, whose career spanned more than sixty years. She was one of the pioneering women in animation, a field which had been do ...

Gene Deitch Eugene Merril Deitch (August 8, 1924 – April 16, 2020) was an American illustrator, animator, comics artist, and film director who was based in Prague from the 1960s until his death in 2020. Deitch was known for creating animated cartoons ...

, and Grim Natwick. Throughout the 1960s and 70s, Robert Lawrence Productions co-produced several of Jim Henson's

television special A television special (often TV special, or rarely television spectacular) is a standalone television show which may also temporarily interrupt episodic programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Some specials provide a full range of ent ...

s, which were filmed at Lawrence's studio in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, including ''

Hey, Cinderella! ''Hey, Cinderella!'' is a 1969 television special adaptation of the fairy tale ''Cinderella'', produced by Muppets, Inc. in the United States and Robert Lawrence Productions in Canada, and featuring The Muppets created by Jim Henson, who also ...

'', '' The Frog Prince,

The Muppet Musicians of Bremen ''The Muppet Musicians of Bremen'' (released on home video as ''Tales from MuppetLand: The Muppet Musicians of Bremen'') is a 1972 television special that is an adaptation of ''Town Musicians of Bremen'', featuring The Muppets. It is directed and p ...

'', and ''

Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas Emmet may refer to: Places Australia * Emmet, Queensland Germany * Emmet (Upland), a mountain in Hesse United States * Emmet, Arkansas * Emmet, Nebraska * Emmet, North Dakota * Emmet, South Dakota * Emmet, Dodge County, Wisconsin, a town * ...

''. The Toronto branch also produced several Canadian TV series (including '' Moment of Truth'' and '' 55 North Maple''), the filming of the 1964 American premiere of

Karlheinz Stockhausen Karlheinz Stockhausen (; 22 August 1928 – 5 December 2007) was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. He is known for his groun ...

's ''

Momente ''Momente'' (Moments) is a work by the German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen, written between 1962 and 1969, scored for solo soprano, four mixed choirs, and thirteen instrumentalists (four trumpets, four trombones, three percussionists, and two e ...

'', and the 1971

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 ...

film ''

King of the Grizzlies ''King of the Grizzlies'' is a 1970 adventure film directed by Ron Kelly and written by Jack Speirs, Rod Peterson and Norman Wright as a loose adaptation of Ernest Thompson Seton's 1900 novel ''Biography Of A Grizzly''. The film stars John Yesn ...

''. In 1954, Lawrence co-founded Grantray-Lawrence Animation with animators Grant Simmons and Ray Patterson (whose first names added up to "Grantray"). In 1965, Lawrence decided to bring the Marvel Comics characters to TV through an animated series to be produced by Grantray-Lawrence. '' The Marvel Super Heroes'' premiered in 1966 and ''

'' in 1967. These were the first appearances of Marvel superheroes in electronic media. Grantray-Lawrence also did sub-contracted work on '' Top Cat'', '' The Jetsons'', ''

The Dick Tracy Show ''The Dick Tracy Show'' is an American animated television series based on Chester Gould's comic strip crime fighter. The series was produced from 1961 to 1962 by UPA. In the show, policeman Dick Tracy employed a series of cartoony subordinat ...

'', and ''

The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo ''The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo'' is an American animated television series produced by United Productions of America that aired for one season on NBC from September 19, 1964 to April 24, 1965. The television series was based on the Mr. Magoo, ...

''. The company went bankrupt in 1968 after a protracted legal battle with their distributor,

Krantz Films Krantz Films, Inc. (KFI) was a Canadian production company headed by American film producer Steve Krantz. From 1966 to 1974, it produced animated cartoon shows such as ''The Marvel Super Heroes'', ''Rocket Robin Hood'', ''Spider-Man'', ''The Wonder ...

. In 1963, Lawrence and Donald Rugoff co-founded Cinema V (which acquired foreign films for distribution within the US), with Lawrence serving as president. Lawrence's other activities at this time include producing the 1965 comedy ''

Harvey Middleman, Fireman ''Harvey Middleman, Fireman'' is a 1965 American comedy film written and directed by Ernest Pintoff. It is Pintoff's first feature film, having previously only made shorts. The film follows the story of a fireman named Harvey Middleman who lives ...

''. In 1971, Lawrence helped his wife Marjorie open The Pillowry, the first store to make handmade pillows from Oriental rug fragments. He dedicated much of his later life to service to West Point (where he co-founded the Jewish Chapel), the West Point Society of New York (of which he briefly served as president), and the

Directors Guild of America The Directors Guild of America (DGA) is an entertainment guild that represents the interests of film and television directors in the United States motion picture industry and abroad. Founded as the Screen Directors Guild in 1936, the group merge ...

.Lawrence 2007. During this time, he also executive produced the 1983 television film ''

When Angels Fly ''When Angels Fly'' is a Canadian television film starring Jennifer Dale as Marta and Robin Ward as Sandy. For Dale, this was her first TV movie. The cast also included Patricia Collins, David Gardner, Robert Hawkins, Joan Fowler, and Robbi Ba ...

''.

Personal life

From 1946 until his death, Lawrence was married to Marjorie Bernstein Lawrence. They had two sons, Peter (b. 1948) and Steven (b. 1953).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lawrence, Robert L. 1919 births 2004 deaths People from Stamford, Connecticut United States Military Academy alumni United States Army personnel of World War II American film producers