| Norm Prescott | |
| Birth Name: | Norman Zachary Pransky |
| Birth Date: | 31 January 1927 |
| Birth Place: | Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Death Place: | Encino, California, U.S. |
| Occupation: | Film producer |
| Years Active: | 1947–1982 |
Norman Zachary Prescott (born Pransky; January 31, 1927 – July 2, 2005) was co-founder and executive producer at Filmation Associates, an animation studio he created with veteran animator Lou Scheimer.
Born to a Polish Jewish family in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston,[1] his birth name was Norman Zachary Pransky.[2] His father Edward was a tailor and a shirt-maker.[3] A graduate of Boston Latin School and Boston University,[4] he began his career as a disc jockey. His first radio job, c. 1947, was at WHEB in Portsmouth NH.[5] In 1948 he joined WHDH, and in October 1950, he became program director at station WORL.[6] He briefly worked in New York at WNEW, before relocating to WBZ radio in late 1955; in 1956, he became one of the "Live Five" after WBZ dropped its syndicated NBC programming and went on the air with live disc jockeys.[7] In the summer of 1959, he left radio and went to work for Joseph E. Levine's Embassy Pictures Corporation, serving as vice president of music, merchandising and post-production.[8] He, Scheimer, and Hal Sutherland formed Filmation in 1963.[9]
See main article: article and Filmation.
Prescott also produced and directed the 1973 animated film Treasure Island and produced and wrote 1974's Journey Back to Oz which featured Liza Minnelli as the voice of Dorothy. (Ms. Minnelli is the daughter of Judy Garland, who portrayed that same character in MGM's 1939 live action film.)
Filmation produced the popular Star Trek animated series in 1973. Prescott also was producer for The Secret Lives of Waldo Kitty, Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle, The Space Sentinels, The New Adventures of Flash Gordon, The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse and Heckle and Jeckle (he also voiced Theodore H. Bear in the show's Quacula episodes), Sport Billy, The Tom and Jerry Comedy Show, and Blackstar.
Prescott died of natural causes in Los Angeles on July 2, 2005, at the age of 78.[10] Professionally, he was survived by Scheimer and his colleagues at Filmation. He was also survived by his wife, Elaine, to whom he had been married for fifty-three years, and sons Jeffrey and Michael.[11]