birth_name birth_place nationality birth_date article_title name occupation
fred laderman toledo , ohio , u.s. american 19 february 1927 fred ladd
 fred ladd animator , designer , artist , director
fred ladd

fred ladd -lrb- born fred laderman in 1927 -rrb- , is an american television and film writer and producer .
he is notable as one of the first to introduce japanese animated cartoons to north america .
ladd , a toledo , ohio native , graduated from scott high school in 1945 and from ohio state university in 1949 with degrees in radio and speech .
upon moving to the new york city area , ladd got a year-long job at an fm radio station and then was employed at cayton , inc. , an advertising agency that dabbled in film production .
the agency acquired several nature documentaries , and ladd was given the job of repackaging them into a feature film .
rather than an outright sale , the film was offered in trade to european distributors -lrb- cash exports being limited in post-war europe -rrb- , in exchange for marketable local film productions .
the deal resulted in the acquisition of animated cartoons , and ladd was given the job of repackaging and dubbing the films for the american market .
ladd became the house specialist in the `` westernizing '' of overseas animated programming .
a 1937 german short film on the future of space travel `` weltraumschiff 1 startet '' was acquired , and the special effects sequences were excised by ladd .
his re-edited footage was augmented by new animated sequences and became part of a series entitled `` the space explorers '' which was syndicated to local tv stations from the late 1950s through the early 1960s .
producer norm prescott employed ladd to help reformat a 1965 belgian animated feature `` pinocchio dans le space , '' which was released theatrically by universal in late 1965 as `` pinocchio in outer space . ''
prescott later brought ladd in as co-writer and co-producer on his home-grown 1974 filmation feature , `` journey back to oz . ''
but it was an earlier involvement with nbc-tv that helped open a new and enduring market to north america .
in 1963 , the network 's distribution division , nbc enterprises , had acquired the rights to a japanese animated series entitled `` tetsuwan atomu , '' and consulted with ladd on how to market it .
ladd took the footage and created a pilot episode , eventually leading to the long-running series `` astro boy '' -- the inaugural appearance of anime on western shores .
ladd continued his involvement in early anime imports with `` gigantor '' for trans-lux and `` kimba the white lion '' for nbc enterprises .
later , ladd was creative consultant on the popular 1995-2000 series `` sailor moon '' for dic entertainment .
ladd currently resides in los angeles .
