George Gately
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| George Gately Gallagher | |
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| Born | December 21, 1928 Queens Village, Queens, New York, United States |
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| Died | September 30, 2001 (aged 72) Ridgewood, New Jersey, U.S. |
George Gately Gallagher (December 21, 1928 – September 30, 2001), better known as George Gately, was born in Queens Village, Queens.[1] He is best known as the creator of the popular comic character Heathcliff.
[edit] Biography
Gately was born into a family of comic lovers. His father was an amateur doodler and his elder brother John was also a cartoonist. He grew up and went to school in Bergenfield, New Jersey.[1] Later he studied art at the Pratt Institute in New York City.
After graduating, he worked at an advertising agency for eleven years but was bored. Seeing the success of his elder brother as a cartoonist, George also decided to enter this field. In 1957 he sold his first comic. He dropped his last name of Gallagher to avoid confusion with his brother.
In 1964, he created his first strip 'Hapless Harry', which ran for a few years in several newspapers. But his most memorable creation came in 1971 in the form of a fat orange cat, Heathcliff.[2]
Heathcliff was an enormous success and soon appeared in newspapers all over the world. To keep up with the demand, he recruited Bob Laughlin, and later his brother John to help draw the daily strips and Sunday color pages.
He gave up drawing in 1998. Heathcliff is now drawn by his nephew Peter Gallagher.[2]
On September 30, 2001 at the age of 72, he died of a heart attack at Valley Hospital, Ridgewood, New Jersey.
[edit] References
- ^ a b Hernandez, Cava. "GEORGE GATELY : Creador del gato Heathcliff", El Mundo (Spain), October 6, 2001. Accessed November 20, 2007. "George Gately Gallagher nació en Queens Village, Nueva York, en 1928, meses antes de que estallase la Gran Depresión. Pero, a todos los efectos, hay que considerarle un habitante de New Jersey, en cuya localidad de Bergenfield es donde transcurrieron su infancia y su adolescencia."
- ^ a b " George Gately, 72; Created 'Heathcliff'", The New York Times, October 3, 2001. Accessed November 20, 2007.
