Otmar Gutmann

Otmar Gutmann (24 April 1937 – 13 October 1993) was a German filmmaker who specialised in animation. In 1990, he created the Swiss-British children’s stop-motion television series Pingu.

He started as an amateur in the 1960. As a professional he only made one personal work, Aventures (1978). It was based on the piece of music by Gyorgy ligeti, he brought the sculptural universe of Lubomir Stepan to life as an exploration of human condition. In 1980, he was one of the leading animators of the plasticine characters Frédéric and Frédéri from "Lucy the Menace of Street".[2] Later, in 1986, he created Pingu and eventually, it became a major success.

On 13 October 1993, Gutmann fell victim to a cardiac arrest while working on Season 2 of Pingu and died. He was buried at Russikon Cemetery. But his company (The Pygos Group) decided to keep producing Pingu episodes with a new team of crew members. In 2000, the company collapsed and all its assets were sold to HiT Entertainment in 2001..[1]