Jim Davis (cartoonist)
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| Jim Davis | |
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| Born | James Robert Davis July 28, 1945 Fairmount, Indiana, U.S. |
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| Occupation | Cartoonist |
| Known for | Garfield comic strip (1978-present) |
| Parents | Jim Sr. (father) Anna (mother) |
James Robert "Jim" Davis (born July 28, 1945), is an American cartoonist who created the popular comic strip Garfield. Other comics that he has worked on include Tumbleweeds, Gnorm Gnat, and a strip about Mr. Potato Head. He has written Emmy-award winning TV specials and was also one of the producers behind the "Garfield & Friends" TV show which aired on CBS from 1988-1995. In addition, he is currently the writer and co-producer of a triology of CGI-direct-to-video feature films about Garfield; the first one, "Garfield Gets Real", was released in 2007.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Personal
Jim Davis was born in Fairmount, Indiana, near Marion, where he grew up on a small farm with his father James William Davis, mother Anna Catherine (Carter) Davis, brother Dave, and 25 cats. Davis' childhood on a farm parallels the life of his cartoon character 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. Davis attended Ball State University. While attending Ball State, he became a member of the Theta Xi fraternity. He earned the dubious honor of earning one of the lowest cumulative grade point averages in the history of the university, an honor incidentally shared with Late Show host David Letterman.[citation needed]
Ironically, considering his fame as a cartoonist who draws a cat, his first wife Carolyn (Altekruse) was allergic to cats[1] although they owned a dog named Molly[2]. They have a son, James Alexander Davis[3][1] On July 16, 2000, Davis married his current wife Jill. They have three children: James, Ashley, and Christopher.[2]
Davis as of 2007 resides in Albany, Indiana, where he and his staff produce Garfield under his company, Paws, Inc., begun in 1981. Paws, Inc. employs nearly 50 artists and licensing administrators, who work with agents around the world managing Garfield's vast licensing, syndication, and entertainment empire.
Davis and his wife Jill, Sr. VP of Licensing at Paws, have three children and three grandchildren.
[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 Pendleton Times, an Indiana 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 relate with bugs!"
On June 19, 1978, Garfield started syndication in 41 newspapers. Things were going well until the Chicago Sun-Times cancelled the strip, prompting an outcry from 1300 readers. Garfield was reinstated and the strip quickly became the fastest selling comic strip in the world. Today it is syndicated in 2400 newspapers and is read by approximately 200 million readers each day. Guinness World Records recently proclaimed "Garfield" the most widely syndicated comic strip in the world.[citation needed]
In the 1988-1994 cartoon series Garfield and Friends, one episode has a scene where Garfield cat sliding down a fireman's pole in a haunted house, and Davis has a brief cameo of himself drawing a cartoon.
In the 1980s, Davis 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 with Brett Koth.
In 2005, Davis appeared in the music video "Lazy Muncie", a parody of the Saturday Night Live video "Lazy Sunday".
Most recently, Jim Davis founded The Professor Garfield Foundation, to support children’s literacy. A free educational web site http://www.professorgarfield.org offers content that is engaging and pedagogically sound, and is the cornerstone of the Foundation’s work.
[edit] Awards
| Year | Award | Presenting Organization |
|---|---|---|
| 1982 | Best Humor Strip Cartoonist | National Cartoonist Society |
| 1983-84 | Emmy Award, Outstanding Animated Program, Garfield on the Town TV special, CBS | Academy of Television Arts & Sciences |
| 1984-85 | Emmy Award, Outstanding Animated Program, Garfield in the Rough TV special, CBS | Academy of Television Arts & Sciences |
| 1985 | Elzie Segar Award for Outstanding Contributions to Cartooning | National Cartoonist Society |
| 1985-86 | Emmy Award, Outstanding Animated Program, Garfield's Halloween Adventure TV special, CBS | Academy of Television Arts & Sciences |
| 1986 | Best Humor Strip Cartoonist | National Cartoonist Society |
| 1988-89 | Emmy Award, Outstanding Animated Program, Garfield's Babes and Bullets, TV special, CBS | Academy of Television Arts & Sciences |
| 1988 | Sagamore of the Wabash | State of Indiana |
| 1989 | Reuben Award for Overall Excellence in Cartooning | National Cartoonist Society |
| 1989 | Indiana Arbor Day Spokesman Award (Presented to Jim Davis and Garfield) | Indiana Division of Natural Resources and Forestry |
| 1990 | Good Steward Award, (Presented to Jim Davis and Garfield) | National Arbor Day Foundation |
| 1991 | Indiana Journalism Award (Presented to Jim Davis and Garfield) | Ball State University Department of Journalism |
| 1992 | Distinguished Hoosier Award | State of Indiana |
| 1995 | Project Award | National Arbor Day Foundation |
| 1997 | LVA Leadership Award (Presented to Paws) | Literacy Volunteers of America |
[edit] References
- ^ a b "Those Catty Cartoonists," Time magazine, Dec. 07, 1981; available online at Time magazine website.
- ^ a b Jim Davis at Everything2.com
- ^ NNDB profile, accessed March 15 2008
- Kim Campbell, Director of Public Relations, Paws, Inc.
- Bruce McCabe, "The Man Who Put Garfield On Top", The Boston Globe, March 8, 1987.
