John Cullen Murphy
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John Cullen Murphy (b. May 3, 1919 in New York City - d. July 2, 2004 in Greenwich, Connecticut) was a comics artist probably best known for his work on the Prince Valiant comic strip. He replaced the strip's creator, Hal Foster, full-time in 1970, although Foster continued to offer guidance until his death in 1982.
He continued to draw Valiant (with his son, Cullen Murphy, writing the script, and his daughter doing the lettering/coloring) until he retired in March 2004, turning the strip over to his hand-picked successor, illustrator Gary Gianni.
He attended the Art Institute of Chicago, where his family lived until 1929, when they moved to New Rochelle, a suburb of New York City. He aspired to be a baseball player, and was playing baseball when a New Rochelle neighbor, Norman Rockwell, asked the 15 year old if he would like to model for him.
Rockwell's "Starstruck", in which a forlorn Murphy sits on the floor, gazing at pictures of movie starlets, was the September 22, 1934 cover of the Saturday Evening Post. Rockwell became one of Murphy's mentors. Murphy would bring over artwork that Rockwell would critique on a regular basis. This practice only ended with World War II.
Murphy entered the army in 1940, joining the 7th Regiment. He became an anti-aircraft officer, rising to the rank of major. He spent several years in the Pacific, beginning in Australia and ending in Tokyo. He was an aide to General Richard Marquat, who was on the staff of Gen. Douglas MacArthur. During the war, Murphy continued to illustrate, sending back work to the Chicago Tribune, and painting numerous portraits of military figures.
On his return to the U.S. in 1946, he resumed his career as an illustrator, working frequently for magazines like Columbia, Liberty and Sport. In 1950, writer Elliot Caplan (brother of L'il Abner creator Al Capp) suggested that Murphy illustrate a boxing comic strip he had in mind, Big Ben Bolt. Murphy was the artist of Big Ben Bolt from 1950 to 1978. In 1951, Murphy married Joan Byrne, also from New Rochelle, and they had eight children:
- John Cullen Murphy
- Mary Cullene Murphy
- Siobhan Murphy Grogan
- Joan Byrne Murphy Sleeper
- Robert Finn Murphy
- Brendan Woods Murphy
- Cait Naughton Murphy
- Mairead Walsh Murphy Nash
In 1953, the Murphy family moved to Cos Cob, Connecticut, which was his home until his death at age 85 from undisclosed causes.
[edit] Awards
For his work on Big Ben Bolt and Prince Valiant, he received the National Cartoonist Society Story Comic Strip Award for 1971, and, for Prince Valiant, in 1974, 1976, 1978, 1984, and 1987. He received the Elzie Segar Award in 1983.
