It’s a sad day in animation. Frequent Pixar screenwriter Daniel Gerson, who gave us both Big Hero 6 and Monsters, Inc. among others, passed away this weekend at the age of 49.
Gerson had been battling brain cancer and died in his Los Angeles home on Saturday. He’s survived by his wife and two children, as well as his parents and sister.
He and his frequent writing partner Robert L. Baird collaborated on the screenplay for Big Hero 6 (2014), which made $658 Million worldwide and took home the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. They also wrote Monsters University together, after Gerson had written Monsters, Inc. with Andrew Stanton. Gerson’s other credits with Baird include either writing or assisting on Chicken Little (2005), Cars (2006), Open Season (2006), Meet the Robinsons (2007), Up (2009) and Inside Out (2015). They are also the screenwriters for Cars 3, which is coming out next year.
You can also hear Gerson’s voice on a couple of his projects! He did both voices for the company janitors Needleman and Smitty in Monsters, Inc., and he played the desk sergeant in Big Hero 6.
There’ll be a memorial service in Los Angeles, and if you’re a fan of his work and would like to do something in his memory, consider giving a donation to Dr. Linda Liau at the Brain Tumor Program at UCLA. Because seriously, eff cancer.
RIP, Mr. Gerson. Thank you for the amazing stories.
(via Spinoff Online)
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