Walt Kelly: Difference between revisions

| area = Animator, cartoonist, newspaper journalist, poet, American singer

'''Walter Crawford Kelly Jr.''' (August 25, 1913 – October 18, 1973), commonly known as '''Walt Kelly''', was an American [[animator]] and [[cartoonist]], best known for the [[comic strip]] ''[[Pogo (comic strip)|Pogo]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.answers.com/search|title=Answers - The Most Trusted Place for Answering Life's Questions|website=www.answers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.pogopossum.com/walt.htm |title=Kelly, Walt. "An Autobiography by the Creator of Pogo." Official Pogo Website. 1954. |access-date=2011-09-15 |archive-date=2011-10-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111002060044/http://www.pogopossum.com/walt.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> He began his animation career in 1936 at [[The Walt Disney Company|Walt Disney Studios]], contributing to ''[[Pinocchio (1940 film)|Pinocchio]]'', ''[[Fantasia (1940 film)|Fantasia]]'', and ''[[Dumbo]]''. In 1941, at the age of 28, Kelly transferred to work at [[Dell Comics]], where he created ''Pogo'', which eventually became his platform for political and philosophical commentary.

In 1930, Kelly graduated from high school and met Helen DeLacy at choir practice. DeLacy was a few years older than Kelly. DeLacy left her southern California position as a Girl Scout executive in 1935, hoping to leave Kelly behind. Kelly gave up his job at Bridgeport General Electric and followed DeLacy to Los Angeles, where he took a job at Walt Disney. Kelly and DeLacy then married in September 1937.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:-p8yxSHNPlQJ:https://biography.yourdictionary.com/walt-kelly+&cd=16&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-b-1-d|title=Walt Kelly Facts|website=webcachebiography.googleusercontentyourdictionary.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Pogo by Walt Kelly - Through the Wild Blue Wonder: The Complete Syndicated Comic Strips, Volume 1 |editor-last1=Thompson |editor-first1=Kim |editor-last2=Kelly |editor-first2=Carolyn |isbn=9781560978695 |year=2011 |page=5}}</ref> In 1951, Kelly divorced DeLacy and married Stephanie Waggony; the two remained married until Waggony died of cancer in 1970.<ref name="WildBlueWonder12">{{Cite book|title=Pogo by Walt Kelly - Through the Wild Blue Wonder: The Complete Syndicated Comic Strips, Volume 1 |editor-last1=Thompson |editor-first1=Kim |editor-last2=Kelly |editor-first2=Carolyn |isbn=9781560978695 |year=2011 |page=12}}</ref> Kelly met Selby Daley in the late 1960s while working on ''[[Pogo_(comic_strip)#Animation_and_puppetry|The Pogo Special Birthday Special]]'', a television special based on the ''Pogo'' comic strip. Kelly and Daley continued to collaborate professionally, and got married in late 1972.<ref name="jeblack">{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kmhECwAAQBAJ&q=%22walt+kelly%22+%22divorce%22&pg=PA93 | title=Walt Kelly and Pogo: The Art of the Political Swamp| isbn=9780786479870| last1=Black| first1=James Eric| date=2015-12-23| publisher=McFarland}}</ref><ref name="WildBlueWonder12" />

His influences included cartoonists [[George Kerr (cartoonist)|George Kerr]], [[Frederick Opper]], [[E.&nbsp;W.&nbsp;Kemble]], [[A.&nbsp;B.&nbsp;Frost]], [[John Tenniel]], [[George Herriman]], and, especially, [[T.&nbsp;S.&nbsp;Sullivant]].<ref name="jeblack"/> Kelly, a great admirer of [[Lewis Carroll]], was also a prolific poet, especially in the "[[Anguish Languish]]" form (of which ''Deck Us All with Boston Charlie'' is considered one of the prime examples). Kelly's singing voice, a boozy Irish baritone, can be heard on the ''Songs of the Pogo'' album, for which he also supplied the lyrics.

[[Category:Deaths from diabetes in California]]