Norman Prescott, chairman, co-founder and exec producer at Filmation Studios, died July 2, 2005, of natural causes in Los Angeles, according to VARIETY. He was 78.
Along with Lou Scheimer, he formed Filmation Studios in 1965 and acquired the rights from National Periodicals to produce the SUPERMAN animated series. In 1974, the studio received two Emmy nominations for its animated series STAR TREK and FAT ALBERT AND THE COSBY KIDS. STAR TREK won the award the following year. Other toons included THE ARCHIES, BATMAN, TARZAN, FLASH GORDON and many more. His live-action work included SHAZAM, ISIS, ARK II and SPACE ACADEMY.
The Boston native served in the Air Force before becoming a Bean Town radio celeb on WORL. By the age of 21, he was program director for the station.
In 1952 in Brookline, Massachusetts, he started the Norm Prescott School of Broadcasting, which later became the Northeast Broadcasting School and now is called the New England Institute of Art.
In 1959, he was hired as vp of music, merchandising and post-production at newly formed Embassy Pictures Corp., where his first job was as music and post-production supervisor on HERCULES. After accumulating extensive feature experience, he produced the independent animated feature, PINOCCHIO IN OUTER SPACE in 1961. He followed that up with JOURNEY BACK TO OZ, which featured the voice of Liza Minnelli as Dorothy.
He is survived by his wife of 53 years, Elaine; two sons, Jeffrey, a San Diego radio host/reporter, and Michael, a film-TV producer; and three grandchildren.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
