- Jean MacCurdy
Infobox Actor
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Life Partner =Bill Hogan
Resides in =San Francisco
emmyawards =Jean MacCurdy is an American-born longtime animation/children's programming professional, best known for having worked at Hanna Barbara, and for having presided over the Warner Brothers Animation Division during its "Golden Age" in the 1990s, when she was instrumental in getting an extraordinary array of quality cartoons produced.
Kids' Shows for Grownups?
There are some who complain that the shows MacCurdy,
Tom Ruegger ,Sherri Stoner ,John P. McCann , andPaul Dini put together in conjunction withSteven Spielberg were not truly directed at children at all, but rather attracted an audience comprising mostly adults.Along with Tom Ruegger, MacCurdy migrated to Warner Brothers from Hanna-Barbara, and eventually rose through the ranks to the head of the division. Under her leadership Warner Brother Animation experienced a second renaissance, producing wildly popular children's programming.
Management Style
"She had," John P. McCann recalled once, "the ability to let creative artists make their own decisions without crowding them. She had taste, though, and she'd share her opinion if it was asked of her. But mostly what she did was give us a level of freedom no one else in town had at the time. That's why we did such amazing work for her."
"The Emmy Machine"
MacCurdy has served as Executive in Charge of Production for such critically acclaimed shows as "Tiny Toons", "Animaniacs", "Steven Spielberg Presents Freakazoid!", "Histeria!", "Batman Beyond," "Pinky, Elmyra, & the Brain", and "Pinky & the Brain". She has also executive-produced some episodes of "Batman Beyond", as well as a handful of "Scooby-Doo" mysteries and a number of "Superman" episodes.
She is responsible for Warner Brothers raking in an extraordinary number of Emmy Awards during her years at the helm of Warner Brother Animation: literally, dozens of the statuettes showed up during her tenure.
Personal Life
MacCurdy lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, but still frequently visits Los Angeles. She recently participated in the 2008 Comic-Con Panel on the creation of Tiny Toons, Freakazoid!, and Animaniacs, in San Diego, California. She's extraordinarily fond of the cheese puffs that are served at New York's "21 Club."
External Links
* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0531575/ Jean MacCurdy's IMDB Page]
* [http://zvbxrpl.blogspot.com/2006/06/dubba-dubba.html Jaime J. Weinman, of Canada's MacClean's, discusses MacCurdy's tenure at Warner Brothers]
* [http://writeenough.blogspot.com/2006/06/warners-jean.html John P. McCann on MacCurdy's place in "The Emmy Machine"]
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