Jim Davis (cartoonist)
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| Jim Davis | |
 Davis with Odie the Dog on the left and Garfield the Cat on the right |
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| Born | James Robert Davis July 28, 1945 (age 61) Fairmount, Indiana  |
|---|---|
| Known for | Garfield comic strip (1978-present) |
| Occupation | Cartoonist |
| Parents | Jim Sr. (father) Betty (mother) |
James Robert "Jim" Davis (born July 28, 1945), is an American cartoonist who created the popular comic strip Garfield.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
[edit] Personal
Jim Davis was born in Fairmount, Indiana, near Marion, where he grew up on a small farm with father Jim Sr., mother Betty, brother Dave, and 25 cats. Davis' childhood on a farm parallels the life of Garfield's owner, Jon Arbuckle, who was also raised on a farm with his parents and a brother, Doc Boy. Jon, too, is a cartoonist, and also celebrates his birthday on July 28.
He attended Ball State University. While attending Ball State, he became a member of Theta Xi fraternity.
Davis as of 2007 resides in Muncie, Indiana, where he and his staff produce Garfield under his company, Paws, Inc., begun in 1981. He was married to Carolyn, a singer and elementary teacher whom he met while both were attending college, and has a son named James with her. However, the couple divorced, and Davis since 2000 has been married to a woman named Jill, Paws' senior vice president of licensing, who has worked there approximately 25 years.
Davis did not have cats when he started Garfield because of Carolyn's allergies, but they owned a Labrador retriever named Molly. With Jill, the family has expanded to include children Ashley and Chris, granddaughter Chloe, and cats Link, Spunky, and Spritzy.[citation needed]
[edit] Professional
Prior to creating Garfield, Davis worked for a local advertising agency and in 1969 began assisting Tom Ryan's comic strip, Tumbleweeds. He then created a comic strip, Gnorm Gnat, that ran for five years in The Muskegon Chronicle, a Michigan newspaper. Davis tried to sell it to a national comic strip syndicate, but an editor told him, "Your art is good, your gags are great, but bugs — nobody can identify with bugs!" 20 Years & Still Kicking!: Garfield's Twentieth Anniversary Collection Five years after starting Gnorm Gnat, Davis drew a giant foot that fell out of the sky, crushing Gnorm and ending the comic strip.
On June 19, 1978, Garfield started syndication in 41 newspapers. It went on to become a long-running international hit, remaining so as of 2007.
Davis in the 1980s also created the barnyard-slapstick comic strip U.S. Acres, featuring Orson the Pig. Outside the U.S., the strip was known as Orson's Farm. Davis also created a 2000-2003 strip based on the toy Mr. Potato Head.
In the mid-2000s, Davis appeared in the music video "Lazy Muncie", a parody of the Saturday Night Live video "Lazy Sunday".
[edit] Garfield
The comic strip Garfield appears in more than 2,500 newspapers as of 2007. The character is named after Davis' grandfather, James Garfield Davis, who in turn had been named after the assassinated U.S. President James Abram Garfield.
Garfield and Friends was an animated TV series that ran for on CBS from 1988-1994. Also created by Davis, it featured segments based on his comic strips.
The live-action Garfield: The Movie was released to theaters in summer 2004. Though commercially successful internationally, the film, which featured Bill Murray as the voice of Garfield, received generally negative reviews. A theatrical sequel, Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties, was released in U.S. movie theatres on June 16, 2006.
[edit] Awards
- National Cartoonist Society Humor Strip Award: 1981 and 1985
- National Cartoonist Society Reuben Award: 1989
- National Cartoonist Society Elzie Segar Award: 1985
