Yoram Gross: A pioneer of three countries
Millions of Australians grew up watching Dot and the Kangaroo and Blinky Bill, but the story of Yoram Gross, the man behind such beloved characters, is far more interesting than any piece of fiction.
Jerzy gross was born in October in 1926 in Krakow, Poland, where his family owned a couple of fine home mart stores. His father disappeared, presumably killed, when Gross was almost 13 and preparing for his Bar Mitzvah. But that coming-of-age ceremony would never take place; the German forces invaded the country in 1939.
The following years, documented in his new autobiography My Animated Life, saw the Gross family divided, constantly on the move and eventually managing to survive the war – a true story that would make a fascinating film.
Gross had no filmmaking dreams when the war ended in 1945. Poland’s prolific film industry had disappeared during the Nazi occupation, but after the war it started to come back to life. A school offering short practical courses opened in Krakow; Jerzy’s older brother Natan attended that school and got a job in the film industry soon after graduation.
