John Clark Matthews

John Clark Matthews
John Clark Matthews 2.png John Clark Matthews 2.png
Native name	John Clark Matthews
Born	1951/05/05 Pasadena, California
🏡 Residence	Cedar Glen, California, USA
🏳️ Nationality	American
🏫 Education	Pasadena High SchoolPasadena City College (Fine Arts, Music, Film)
💼 Occupation	Animator, writer, director, producer, musician, voice actor
📆 Years active	1982 - 2004
👔 Employer	Churchill Films, Sony Pictures Imageworks
Known for	Stop-motion animation
Notable work	Curious George (1984) The Mouse and the Motorcycle (1987) Runaway Ralph (1988) Morris Goes to School (1989) Stanley and the Dinosaurs (1989) Ralph S. Mouse (1990) Stuart Little (1999) The Matrix Reloaded (2003) The Polar Express (2004)
👩 Spouse(s)	Niki Matthews (1976 - )
👶 Children	Nathan Matthews Nigel Matthews Ryan Matthews Sam Matthews
🌐 Website	http://johnclarkmatthews.com/
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John Clark Matthews is an American animator, writer, director, producer, musician, and voice actor. He is known for his work with Churchill Films in the 80s and early 90s, making stop-motion shorts based on popular children's books. Matthews also worked for Imageworks in the late 90s and early 2000s, working on films like The Polar Express and Stuart Little.

Biography

John Clark Matthews was born in Pasadena, California in 1951. He attended five different high schools, graduating at Pasadena High School. He was always the class artist, but after winning a house-designing contest his senior year, he ended up going on to major in architecture during his first year of attending Pasadena City College. When he found himself frequently "falling asleep at the drafting table", he decided to follow his passions and become an artist.

After his next two years, he graduated with Honors Extraordinaire in Fine Art. He spent two more years as a music major, and then two more as a film major (again graduating with Honors Extraordinaire). During his time studying film, he learned the skill of traditional animation. His early animations explored visual music, being inspired by Oskar Fischinger.

Matthews married his wife, Niki, November 20, 1976, and together, started making puppets, and became professional puppeteers. He discovered that "children are the most honest audiences ever invented - if they hate your act, they let you know it". After years of lugging puppet shows around, he decided to switch to stop-motion animation where he only had to set up a scene once (and shoot it). It also payed better.

In 1980, he started working for Churchill Films in Hollywood, a gig that would last twelve years. During this period, Matthews produced and directed twenty four stop-motion films, including Curious George, Frog and Toad, The Mouse and the Motorcycle, Rotten Ralph, and Morris the Moose. While working for Churchill, he also won about 150 awards, including 5 Emmy nominations, a George Foster Peabody Medal, and a Carnegie Medal.

In 1995, Matthews began working for Sony Pictures Imageworks, working on projects like Stuart Little, Hollow Man, The Austronaut's Wife, The Matrix Reloaded, and The Polar Express. He was a lead animator on the first Stuart Little film and The Polar Express.

John Clark Matthews is a member of the Screen Actors Guild, and ASCAP. He currently lives on a mountain near Lake Arrowhead, California, with his wife, Niki. They have four adult sons. Matthews interests include: sailing hiking, mountain biking, skiing, and diving. He also plays the piano and 5-string banjo, and enjoys writing songs in his small mountain studio.

Filmography

Year	Title	Credits	Company(s)	Runtime	Notes
1982	Curious George Goes to the Hospital	Director, animator, puppets, musical themes composer	Churchill Films	15:15	Based on Curious George Goes to the Hospital (1966) by Margret Rey and H. A. Rey.
1984	Curious George	Director, principle animator, original themes, puppets		14:33	Based on Curious George (1941) by Margret Rey and H. A. Rey.
1985	Frog and Toad are Friends	Director, principle animator, original themes, puppets		17:54	Based on Frog and Toad are Friends (1970) by Arnold Lobel.
1985	Frog and Toad: Behind the Scenes	Narrator, director		9:23	Based on Frog and Toad are Friends (1985) by Churchill Films
1986	The Mouse and the Motorcyle	Dimentional animation, producer, animator, cable control		40:54	Based on The Mouse and the Motorcycle (1970) by Beverly Cleary
1987	Frog and Toad Together	Director, principle animation, puppets, themes, lighting set-up		17:34	Based on Frog and Toad Together 1970) by Arnold Lobel.
1988	Runaway Ralph	"Ralph", producer, director of animation, cable control		40:11	Based on Runaway Ralph (1970) by Beverly Cleary
1989	Morris Goes to School	Songs, screenplay, director, character sculpture		14:37	Based on Morris Goes to School (1970) by Bernard Wiseman.
1989	Stanley and the Dinosaurs	Director, screenplay, songs, character sculpture, magic cave paintings		15:42	Based on Stanley (1962) by Syd Hoff.
1990	Ralph S. Mouse	"Ralph", producer, director of animation, exercise song, production designer, mouse sculpture		41:35	Based on Ralph S. Mouse (1982) by Beverly Cleary
1991	Uncle Elephant	Producer, director, teleplay, songs, production design, character sculptures		25:53	Based on Uncle Elephant (1981) by Arnold Lobel. Made with WGBH Educational Foundation
1992	Mouse Soup	Teleplay, producer, director, cartoon animation, production design, lighting, songs		25:48	Based on Mouse Soup (1977) by Arnold Lobel.
1993	Commander Toad in Space	Producer, director, production designer, sculptor		23:21	Based on Commander Toad in Space (1980) by Jane Yolen
1993	Morris Has a Cold	Producer, director, teleplay, computer animation, song lyrics, production design, lighting		13:39	Based on Morris Has a Cold (1977) by Bernard Wiseman
1994	Three Little Pigs Sing a Gig	Writer, producer, director, music and songs, production design, lighting	Golden Book Video (Western Publishing)	22:58
1994	Goldilocks and the Three Bears Sing Their Little Bitty Hearts Out	Writer, producer, director, animator, music and songs, production design, lighting		24:34
1995	Pocahontas: The Girl Who Lived in Two Worlds	Writer, director, music and songs, production design	Treat Entertainment	28:05
1995	Curious George Checks Out The Label				6 PSA's produced for the FDA promoting the new food label.
1995	Rotten Ralph: The Taming of the Ralph	Writer, producer, director, music (writer and performer), production design, lighting	Italtoons Corportation - Matthews Productions	26:49	in association with The Disney Channel based on the Rotten Ralph books by Jack Gantos and Nicole Rubel
1996	Rotten Ralph: Not So Rotten Ralph	Writer, producer, director, music		27:08
	Jurupa		Sony Pictures Imageworks	1:51
1999	The Astronaut's Wife	Character animator		1h 50m
1999	Stuart Little	Lead CG character animator: SPI		1h 32m
2000	Peter Rabit Screen Test: Bad Habit Rabbit	Created		1:03
2000	Hollow Man			1h 59m
	Alley Oop (development)	Created		0:49
	Quiet as a... (Dodge commercial)			0:34
	Papa Nogood	Producer, director, creator		4:35
2001	Up to No Good: The Making of Papa Nogood	Himself		3:47
2002	Stuart Little 2	Character animator		1h 28m
2003	Stuart Little (series)	Animation supervisor, wrap arounds		Various
2003	The Matrix Reloaded	CG Character Animator		2h 18m
2004	The Polar Express	Lead character animator		1h 40m

Music

John Clark Matthews wrote the songs for many of his stop-motion films. This includes the following:

"Toad's Dream" from Frog and Toad Together (1987)

"It's My Lucky Day" from Morris Goes to School (1989)

"I Wonder Why" from Stanley and the Dinosaurs (1989)

"Wake Up, Stop Your Sleeping" from Stanley and the Dinosaurs (1989)

"Count to Ten" from Uncle Elephant (1991)

"Do-Di-Da-Dingo" from Mouse Soup (1992)

"Stone's Song" from Mouse Soup (1992)

"Got' a Boo Boo" from Mouse Soup (1992)

"Feeling Good" from Mouse Soup (1992)

"Hey Did" from Three Little Pigs Sing a Gig (1994)

"Little Baby Does Mambo" from Goldilocks and the Three Bears Sing Their Little Bitty Hearts Out (1994)

"Goldilocks Solo" from Goldilocks and the Three Bears Sing Their Little Bitty Hearts Out (1994)

Matthews has also made an independent album called "Dream of Flying and Dying", released in 2012. He wrote and performed the music and lyrics himself.

Dream of Flying and Dying Track Listing

No.	Title	Length
1	Second Wind	2:12
2	I Hate Love	3:47
3	I Lift the Bottle	2:58
4	God's Nap	2:48
5	Summer's Gone Again	3:36
6	The Argument	1:36
7	Ice On the Road	3:44
8	The Flight	3:25
9	Bikini Lady	2:24
10	I'm Not Sorry	2:25
11	Dark Ghosts	4:17
12	I Hate My Baby	2:36
13	The Limit	2:12
14	Hot Kiss	2:48
15	Devil Wind	4:19
16	Incident On State Street	2:14
17	Vivo Con Brio	1:37
18	Without You Nothing Makes Sense	4:06
19	A Time	3:09
20	Dream of Flying and Dying	3:42

References

This article "John Clark Matthews" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:John Clark Matthews. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

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