Gordon Hunt

**Gordon Edwynn Hunt** (April 26, 1929 – December 17, 2016) was an American writer, director and actor who worked in television, film, theatre and voice work. He is most known for being the voice director for several projects from Hanna-Barbera and Disney, including but not limited to *The Smurfs*, *Tom & Jerry Kids*, *Darkwing Duck*, *Dave the Barbarian* and *Phineas and Ferb*.

For Nickelodeon, though through the pseudonym "Edward Hunt", he did voice direction for the most animated programs; the most famous examples are *Doug*; *Rugrats*; *AAAHH!!! Real Monsters*; *Hey Arnold!*; *CatDog*; *Mike, Lu & Og*; the entire *Jimmy Neutron* franchise (with the exception of *Planet Sheen*); and *Glitch Techs*, which is noted to be among the last things he worked on before passing away.

## Biography

### Early Life and Career

Hunt was born on Friday, April 26, 1929 in Pasadena, California, the son of Helen F. (*née* Roberts; originally Rothenberg) and George Smith Hunt II, an industrial designer. He also had a younger half-brother, director and lighting designer Peter H. Hunt. His mother was from a German-Jewish family. His father was from Minnesota, and was a Mayflower descendant, of English origin.

He had been working as a freelance director in New York City before being hired to work at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, where he served as their casting director for ten years. He was then hired by Joseph Barbera to direct animated series at Hanna-Barbera. His first voice directing job was *Partridge Family 2200 A.D.* in 1974.

With a prestigious twenty-year career at Hanna-Barbera, Hunt was now prominent in the voiceover forum, where he was a freelance director for multiple animated productions and video games. As a voice actor, he voiced the character of Wally in the animated adaptation of the comic strip *Dilbert*. He has often worked alongside colleague voice directors Terry Klassen, Ginny McSwain, Andrea Romano, Collette Sunderman, Kris Zimmerman and Jamie Thomason. Klassen, McSwain and Romano had studied under him as animation casting directors and learned the profession from Hunt before becoming voice directors themselves. Andrea Romano considers him to be her mentor, who makes actors feel so comfortable and relaxed that she said, “Nobody does not like Gordon”. Even Danny Antonucci of *Ed, Edd n Eddy* fame said that Hunt was great working with, and would happily work with him again despite not liking the United States.

He directed many television series, of which most were situation comedies. In 1996, he received the Directors Guild of America Award; "Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy Series" for *Mad About You*'s episode *The Alan Brady Show*. Hunt also voice directed multiple video games. Among the games he worked on are *Pandemonium*, the *God of War series*, *Lair*, *Final Fantasy XIV*, *Blur*, the Legacy of Kain series, and the *Uncharted series*. He also served as motion capture director on *Uncharted: Golden Abyss*.

### Personal Life

He was the father of actress Helen Hunt from his marriage to photographer Jane Elizabeth Novis; they later divorced. He later married voice actress B.J. Ward in 1995, they remained married until Hunt's death in 2016.

### Death

Hunt died in Los Angeles, California, on Saturday, December 17, 2016 of complications from Parkinson's disease at the age of 87.

### Television Programs

#### Animated

* *The Smurfs* (assisting Mel Blanc)

* *Snorks*

* *Garfield and Friends*

* *A Pup Named Scooby-Doo*

* *Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventures*

* *Doug* (Nickelodeon series only)

* *Rugrats* (original 1991 series)

* *Darkwing Duck*

* *The Addams Family* (1992 animated series)

* *AAAHH!!! Real Monsters*

* *Timon & Pumbaa*

* *Hey Arnold!*

* *CatDog*

* *Mickey Mouse Works*

* *Dilbert* (also voiced Wally)

* *Mike, Lu & Og*

* *House of Mouse*

* *The Proud Family*

* *Whatever Happened to... Robot Jones?*

* *The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius*

* *Dave the Barbarian*

* *Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi*

* *Camp Lazlo*

* *Catscratch*

* *Mickey Mouse Clubhouse*

* *Phineas and Ferb*

* *Making Fiends* (2007 Nickelodeon series)

* *Harvey Beaks*
* *Bluey* (select projects; posthumous release)

* *Glitch Techs* (posthumous release)

* *Danzel & Timbercrook’s WolfTales* (final project; posthumous release)

#### Live Action

* *The Planet's Funniest Animals* (1992–1996)

* Disney's *TV Funhouse*

* *Bear in the Big Blue House*

* *Drake & Josh*
* *LazyTown*

### Animated Specials and Films

#### Specials

* *Yogi Bear's All Star Comedy Christmas Caper*

* *The Flintstones Meet the Jetsons*

* *Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats*

* '*Tis the Season to Be Smurfy* (assisting Mel Blanc)

* *Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School*

* *Hey Arnold!: The Jungle Movie* (posthumous release)

#### Films

* *The Little Mermaid* (1989 film)

* *Beauty and the Beast* (1991 film)

* *Tom & Jerry: The Movie*

* *Once Upon a Forest*

* *The Lion King* (1994 film)

* *Toy Story*

* *The Rugrats Movie*

* *A Bug's Life*

* *Toy Story 2*

* *Rugrats in Paris: the Movie*

* *Shrek*

* *Monsters, Inc.*
* *Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius* (alongside Paul Winchell)

* *Ice Age*

* *Where’s Clam?*

* *Shrek 2*

* *The Magic Roundabout* (2005 UK English Dub)

* *Ice Age: The Meltdown*

* *Happy Feet*

* *Up*

* *Toy Story 3*

* *Where’s Clam? 2: Hello Summer, Goodbye Camp*

* *Inside Out*

* *Zootopia*

* *Toy Story 4* (posthumous release)

* *Bob Weighton Presents: Wolfwalkers* (posthumous release)

### Video Games

* *Blazing Dragons*

* *Twelve Tales: Conker 64*

* *Super Mario Sunshine*
* *God of War*

* *Kingdom Hearts II*
* *God of War II*
* *New Super Mario Bros. Wii*

* *Final Fantasy XIV*
* *Super Mario 3D Land*
* *New Super Mario Bros. 2*
* *New Super Mario Bros. U*
* *New Super Luigi U*
* *New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe* (posthumous release)