Hollywood producer Gary Goddard accused of sexual misconduct by 8 former child actors

To the young male actors in his retinue in Santa Barbara in the 1970s, Gary Goddard was an exalted figure. A successful former theater prodigy, Goddard returned through his 20s to direct and mentor child actors in his hometown, vowing to bring the most talented with him to Hollywood. He attracted a constant orbit of devoted boys others referred to as the “Goddardites.”

But the seemingly idyllic setting of privilege and promise had a dark edge for several members of the theater group. Four decades later, many of them say they have been haunted by their encounters with Goddard.

Since actor Anthony Edwards wrote in an online essay last month that Goddard sexually abused him as a pubescent actor in Santa Barbara, seven others from the theater group told the Los Angeles Times that their former mentor molested or attempted to molest them as boys.

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.

Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times In an October 2015 photo, Goddard is pictured with a model of a Macau casino his firm designed. In an October 2015 photo, Goddard is pictured with a model of a Macau casino his firm designed. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)

Goddard, 65, has led an eclectic and lucrative career directing, producing and writing in Hollywood and on Broadway, and as a designer of theme parks and other attractions. He declined to be interviewed. His publicist, Sam Singer, disputed the allegations, which he said were “full of innuendo and hearsay.”

“If it were possible to prove a negative, Mr. Goddard would debate these 40-year-old allegations,” Singer said, but instead would only “categorically deny” their veracity.

Goddard’s accusers have gone on to achieve success in Hollywood and other industries, but they say they have grappled with the psychological aftershocks of his alleged abuse. Their personal sagas have involved therapy, tearful revelations to others and dramatic confrontations with the man they once revered.

“This is a man who’s attracted to little boys, and attracted in the sickest way,” said Edwards, an Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning actor known for roles in “Top Gun” and “ER.” “This is not love, this is not friendship what he was doing. It is a horror because it is manipulating young hearts and minds.”

Courtesy of Bret Nighman Mark Driscoll, left, Anthony Edwards and Bret Nighman this month. Each has accused Gary Goddard of molestation when they were child actors in Santa Barbara. Mark Driscoll, left, Anthony Edwards and Bret Nighman this month. Each has accused Gary Goddard of molestation when they were child actors in Santa Barbara. (Courtesy of Bret Nighman)

For decades, the seaside hamlet about 100 miles north of Los Angeles was a surprisingly busy incubator for Hollywood talent. Goddard, who graduated from Santa Barbara High School in 1970, acted in and directed student productions with budding stars such as Timothy Bottoms, who along with his three brothers went on to film and television fame.

Goddard, a Disney geek whose mother made sandwiches at the local deli, was on an early similar track to success. He majored in theater, dance and film at the California Institute of the Arts before landing a role at Walt Disney Imagineering, the company’s vaunted theme park design group, in 1976.

He continued to stay involved in Santa Barbara, directing youth productions including “Oliver!” and “Jesus Christ Superstar.”

Program photo, "Curtain Up!" Productions Gary Goddard and young actors in a 1978 Santa Barbara youth production of “The Music Man.” Gary Goddard and young actors in a 1978 Santa Barbara youth production of “The Music Man.” (Program photo, "Curtain Up!" Productions)

To many boys, Goddard was as close as any family member. “He was kind of magical and exciting,” said Bret Nighman, a former actor who first met Goddard when he was 13. Edwards described Goddard as a “mentor, teacher and friend,” and a “dominant force” in his life. Former actor Mark Driscoll said that for a period of time the shaggy red-haired auteur became “the most important person in my life.”

But there was a downside to his attention, several of his former proteges said, causing them to avoid being last in the car with Goddard, or closest to his bed on an overnight trip.

Driscoll said that Goddard repeatedly sexually abused him over the course of three years, though he declined to provide details. “I knew I would have to experience things I didn’t want to” whenever the mentor visited, he said. Four Santa Barbara classmates told The Times that Driscoll informed them of the sexual abuse during a get-together two decades ago.

Courtesy of Bret Nighman Bret Nighman, in an actor's headshot taken when he was 15. Bret Nighman, in an actor's headshot taken when he was 15. (Courtesy of Bret Nighman)

Nighman said that Goddard attempted to molest him on four occasions by the time he was 16, culminating in an incident in 1977 at the mentor’s home in which he allegedly rubbed Nighman’s crotch and forced the boy to reciprocate.

Nighman’s childhood friend Mark Daly, now an attorney in Denver, said that Nighman told him about one of the alleged occurrences of abuse, in which Goddard attempted to fondle him during a touring production of “Peter Pan.”

Linus Huffman, who acted in Goddard’s “Oliver!” at the age of 13, alleged that Goddard also attempted to use mentoring during the production as an overture to touch him.

“He pulled me aside and put his hands on my legs and went, ‘I’m very proud of you,’ and was going towards my crotch area,” recalled Huffman, who said he extricated himself by telling Goddard he had a show to do.

Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times Linus Huffman. Linus Huffman. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

According to several people interviewed by The Times, Goddard’s most brazen behavior was exhibited during the “Peter Pan” production. Part of Santa Barbara-based California Youth Theatre, it featured underage auteurs on summer break sojourning in a rickety school bus to packed playhouses around the state. Goddard directed and choreographed the production, giving him close access to its young male actors, many of whom were playing “The Lost Boys,” Peter Pan’s tribe of loyal acolytes.

Goddard’s closeness to the actors drew suspicion from Barbara Costa, the production’s self-described “mother hen,” hired to care for the boys and girls of its cast.

Costa, 83, said in an interview that she became “highly suspicious” of Goddard’s behavior on the tour, and “the way Gary collected these boys. They would swirl around him.”

Costa said that Goddard insisted on using a room divider to keep the other adults on the tour away from the boys at night — and then slept on the boys’ side.

And on a morning at a camp near Lake Tahoe where the troupe stayed in 1977, Costa said that she saw Edwards walking as if in physical pain, with an “awful expression on his face as if he was about to cry.” (Edwards said he didn’t remember the incident.)

Costa said she took her concerns about Goddard to California Youth Theatre founder and director Jack Nakano, but she said he expressed skepticism and asked her for evidence. All she had was “a gut feeling like a mother feels for a child,” and the matter was dropped, she said. Nakano died in 2009.

In his online essay and in an interview, Edwards alleged that Goddard sexually abused him as a child actor, but would not otherwise elaborate. Two of his cast mates in “Peter Pan,” however, described witnessing Goddard molest Edwards during that 1977 tour.