Weeks after ER actor Anthony Edwards wrote a blog article claiming Hollywood producer and director Gary Goddard sexually abused him and a friend when they were kids, a new Los Angeles Times report reveals even more former child actors have come forward with similar allegations. According to the LA Times report, the child actors were allegedly abused in the 1970s, when Goddard returned to Santa Barbara to “mentor child actors in his hometown” and “Bring the most talented with him to Hollywood.”
The child actors came forward after reading Edwards’ blog post last month. They were all part of the same children’s theater group produced by Goddard, and they were all allegedly exposed to his sexual advances.
They describe Goddard’s advances as ranging from straying hands on thighs during lulls in a production or fondling in a darkened Disneyland ride, to repeated incidents of sexual abuse during a troupe’s overnight stays in a statewide tour. In addition, Edwards and another former theater student said in interviews that a classmate who has since died, Scott Drnavich, told them that he was sexually assaulted by Goddard as a boy.
“This is not love, this is not friendship what he was doing,” Edwards told the Times. “It is a horror because it is manipulating young hearts and minds.” Goddard refused to provide an official comment to the paper for its story. However, his publicist claimed the accusations levied agianst his client were “full of innuendo and hearsay.” What’s more, the representative added, “If it were possible to prove a negative, Mr. Goddard would debate these 40-year-old allegations.”
According to IMDB, Gary Goddard was born on July 18, 1954 in Blythe, California, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for Masters of the Universe (1987), Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future (1987) and T2 3-D: Battle Across Time (1996). Goddard founded Landmark Entertainment Group with Tony Christopher, which specializes in theme park attractions with movie themes (1980).
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