Background
Keefe was born on November 16, 1952, in Rochester, New New York
Keefe was born on November 16, 1952, in Rochester, New New York
Keefe"s work on the series is credited with introducing American audiences to Japanese animation and influenced later children"s programs like Dragon Ball Z, Pokémon and Power Rangers. His television career began as a movie critic for television station KPLR in Saint Louis, Missouri and he later produced documentaries for World Events Productions. His "hugely popular" 1980s cartoon series Voltron featured a group of five spaceships combined to form the robot Voltron, who used his sword to protect the universe.
The series was credited by The New York Times in his obituary as having "helped prepare the way for other Japanese-style animation in the United States".
During its run from 1984 to 1987 Voltron was the top-ranked syndicated children"s program lieutenant brought forth several spinoffs and merchandise licensing deals.
The Voltron series was created by Keefe by cutting and pasting bits of the Japanese cartoons Beast King GoLion and Kikou Kantai Dairugger XV. Keefe licensed the programs in 1983 and updated the scripts for American audiences with less violence than the originals, removing Japanese location and cultural information to allow the material to be marketed worldwide. The last three series were produced by Zodiac Entertainment, a company Keefe helped to foundation
Over a 20-year span, Keefe created 600 half-hour episodes, that were enjoyed by millions of children worldwide.
In June 2003, Keefe joined a media and entertainment company called Earthworks Entertainment where he served as Chief Executive Officer. Here he marketed and worked on an animated children"s Christmas special called Nine Dog Christmas which was about nine stray dogs who are recruited as reindeers to help Santa bring Christmas to the world when his reindeer catches a flu. The special has also aired on Cartoon Network in the United States in 2005 and on The Disney Channel in Asia and Europe.
Known for his distinctive mustache and cowboy boots, Keefe died of throat cancer in Rochester, New York at the age of 57.
Before his death, Keefe was developing an animated series for Earthworks Entertainment called Z-Force (Zodiac Force) which features twelve action super heroes based on the ancient Oriental Zodiac.