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

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

's animated series ''

TaleSpin ''TaleSpin'' is an American animated television series produced by Walt Disney Television Animation. It first aired in 1990 as a preview-run on The Disney Channel before beginning its main run in syndication later that year as part of the pro ...

'', 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. Owned and operated by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the P ...

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 mar ...

or designer, including ''

Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears ''Adventures of the Gummi Bears'' is an American animated children's television series created by Jymn Magon and produced by Walt Disney Television Animation. The series, loosely inspired by gummy bear candies, takes place in a fantasy world ...

'', '' Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers'', 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. ( ; formerly known as H-B Enterprises, Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. and H-B Production Co.), simply and commonly known as Hanna-Barbera, was an American animation studio and production company, which was acti ...

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 Am ...

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

The Smurfs ''The Smurfs'' (; ) 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 created and introduced as a series of comic characters by ...

''. For

Marvel Productions Marvel Productions Ltd., later known as New World Animation, was an American production company owned by the Fox Entertainment Group subsidiary of News Corporation which was founded in 1981 as the television and film studio subsidiary of the Mar ...

, he was storyboard director on ''

My Little Pony 'n Friends ''My Little Pony'' is an American animated 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 by Hasbro. The series featured as the ...

'' and ''

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

''. 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 (NA ...

for his work as a storyboard artist on '' The Tick''. More recently, Latham worked on several

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

features for

Universal Cartoon Studios Universal Animation Studios LLC, formerly known as Universal Cartoon Studios, is an American animation studio and a division of Universal 1440 Entertainment, an home entertainment division of Universal Pictures Home Entertainment, which in tur ...

. 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 the internet, such as on a website or a mobile app. While many webcomics are published exclusively online, others are also published in magazines, newspapers, or ...

called ''Lovecraft is Missing'', a project inspired by the works of

H. P. Lovecraft Howard Phillips Lovecraft (, ; August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937) was an American writer of Weird fiction, weird, Science fiction, science, fantasy, and horror fiction. He is best known for his creation of the Cthulhu Mythos. Born in Provi ...

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 on November 2, 2014.

References

External links

* 1953 births 2014 deaths 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