George Gately
Encyclopedia
George Gately Gallagher (December 21, 1928 – September 30, 2001), better known as George Gately, was born in Queens Village, Queens
. He is best known as the creator of the popular comic character Heathcliff
.
. 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. 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. On September 30, 2001 at the age of 72, he died of a heart attack at Valley Hospital, Ridgewood, New Jersey
.
Queens Village, Queens
Queens Village is mostly a residential neighborhood in the eastern part of the New York City borough of Queens.The Queens Village Post Office serves the ZIP codes of 11427 , 11428 , and 11429...
. He is best known as the creator of the popular comic character Heathcliff
Heathcliff (comic strip)
Heathcliff is a comic strip created by George Gately in 1973 featuring the title character, a wisecracking cat. Now written and drawn by Gately's nephew, Peter Gallagher, it is distributed to over 1,000 newspapers by Creators Syndicate, who took over the comic from McNaught Syndicate in 1988.The...
.
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 JerseyBergenfield, New Jersey
Bergenfield is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 26,764.Bergenfield was formed on the basis of a referendum held on June 25, 1894, from portions of Englewood Township and Palisades Township at the height of the...
. Later he studied art at the Pratt Institute
Pratt Institute
Pratt Institute is a private art college in New York City located in Brooklyn, New York, with satellite campuses in Manhattan and Utica. Pratt is one of the leading undergraduate art schools in the United States and offers programs in Architecture, Graphic Design, History of Art and Design,...
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. 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. On September 30, 2001 at the age of 72, he died of a heart attack at Valley Hospital, Ridgewood, New Jersey
Ridgewood, New Jersey
Ridgewood is a village in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the village population was 24,958. Ridgewood is an affluent suburban bedroom community of New York City, located approximately northwest of Midtown Manhattan.The Village of Ridgewood was...
.
External links
- http://lambiek.net/artists/g/gately_george.htm
- http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9906E6DA103DF930A35753C1A9679C8B63