Gavan Francis Disney (27 May 1949 – 6 November 2018) was an Australian

television producer A television producer is a person who oversees one or more aspects of a television show, television program. Some producers take more of an executive role, in that they conceive new programs and pitch them to the television networks, but upon acce ...

.Knox, David (10 November 2018
Vale: Gavan Disney
''

TV Tonight TV Tonight is an Australian-based website which features reviews, news and programming information related to television in Australia as well as OzTAM ratings information. The site was started by television critic David Knox in 2007 after li ...

''. Retrieved 10 November 2018.

Career

Disney was best known for being an

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the production of media. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights or royalties). In film ...

of long-running

Nine Network Nine Network (stylised 9Network, and commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of the five main free-to-air television ...

variety show ''

Hey Hey It's Saturday ''Hey Hey It's Saturday'' is a long-running variety television program on Australian television. It initially ran for 28 years on the Nine Network from 9 October 1971 to 20 November 1999, with a recess in 1978. Its host throughout its entire ...

'' and for being co-creator of

Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as the 10 Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Paramount Global's Paramount Networks UK & Australia, UK & Australia division and is o ...

lifestyle program '' Healthy, Wealthy and Wise''. Television personality

Bert Newton Albert Watson Newton (23 July 1938 – 30 October 2021) was an Australian media personality. He was a Logie Hall of Fame inductee, quadruple Gold Logie–winning entertainer, and radio, theatre and television personality and compère. Ne ...

credited Disney with resurrecting his career in the 1990s by recruiting him to host Network Ten morning show '' Good Morning Australia''.

Iain Hewitson Iain "Huey" Hewitson (born 4 October 1948), is a New Zealand-born Australian chef, restaurateur, author and television personality who moved to Australia in 1972. He is best known for his television involvement with Network Ten. He was also the ...

also stated in an interview that Disney helped him getting a start in television by giving him life-changing career advice. He also served as a manager for Hey Hey regular's

John Blackman John Blackman (14 July 1947 – 4 June 2024) was an Australian radio and television presenter, voice artist, comedy writer and author. He was most widely-known for his voice-over work for the long-running Nine Network comedy variety show ''Hey ...

and

Molly Meldrum Ian Alexander "Molly" Meldrum AM (born 29 January 1943) is an Australian music critic, journalist, record producer and musical entrepreneur. He was the talent coordinator, on-air interviewer, and music news presenter on the former popular musi ...

and numerous other media personality's In 2009, a jury found Disney not guilty of ten counts of indecent assault and two counts of rape, after he was charged in 2008 with assaulting a 17-year-old employee while he was a senior executive at

Ballarat Ballarat ( ) () is a city in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 census, Ballarat had a population of 111,973, making it the third-largest urban inland city in Australia and the third-largest city in Victoria. Within mo ...

television station BTV6 in the 1980s. The jury had previously been directed by the judge to find Disney not guilty of an additional three counts of indecent assault due to a lack of evidence.(9 July 2009
Hey Hey producer cleared of sex assault
''

ABC News ABC News most commonly refers to: * ABC News (Australia), a national news service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation * ABC News (United States), a news-gathering and broadcasting division of the American Broadcasting Company ABC News may a ...

''. Retrieved 10 November 2018. Disney died at the age of 69 in November 2018, following a long illness.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Disney, Gavan 1949 births 2018 deaths Australian television producers