‘Pinky and the Brain’ Writer Gordon Bressack Dies at 68

Dano Nissen

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Gordon Bressack, a prolific Emmy-winning writer of animated television series, has died. He was 68.

Bressacks’s filmmaker son James Cullen Bressack confirmed the death in an Instagram post. He wrote, “Words can’t begin to describe how I am feeling right now. You were my mentor, my writing partner, my hero, my best friend, but most of all you were my Dad.”

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Words cant begin to describe how i am feeling right now. You were my mentor, my writing partner, my hero, my best friend, but most of all you were my Dad. I will miss you more than you will ever know. I knew this day would come but some how always thought that you would beat the odds and live forever, because thats what you did, you beat the odds. Thank you for everything you taught me. Thank you for being a story teller and instilling a love of stories into me. Thank you for making me watch movie after movie when i was little and asking me questions about them. Thank you for telling me I was going to be a filmmaker before I ever even knew what that meant. You meant the world to me, you always have and you always will. Ill always be grateful for being able to write with the best writer I ever knew, you, and i will cherish that film for the rest of my life. Ironically we both were writing that story about this moment today, and yet we never really told the other one. I love you dad, to the moon and back. Ill miss you always. RIP. For those of you reading my dad loved to make people laugh, and im very grateful his legacy lives on through the many many cartoons he wrote and made. If you like cartoons watch an episode of pinky and the brain or anamaniacs and have a laugh in his honor. I know its what he would want.

A post shared by James Cullen Bressack (@jamescullenb) on Aug 30, 2019 at 4:48pm PDT

Bressack wrote for a number of popular cartoon series, including “Animaniacs,” “Jimmy Neutron,” “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” and “The Smurfs.” He won three Daytime Emmys, two for “Pinky and the Brain” and one for “Pinky, Elmyra and the Brain.” He co-wrote the 2017 animated feature “CarGo” with his son, who directed the film.

James Cullen Bressack urged fans to watch his dad’s cartoons in remembrance: “My dad loved to make people laugh, and I’m very grateful his legacy lives on through the many many cartoons he wrote and made. If you like cartoons watch an episode of ‘Pinky and the Brain’ or ‘Anamaniacs’ and have a laugh in his honor. I know its what he would want.”

 

 

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