Walt Kelly

Walt Kelly (actually Walter Crawford Kelly, Jr., born August 25, 1913 in Philadelphia, † October 18, 1973 in Los Angeles ) was an American animator, cartoonist and author. He became famous for the comic strip Pogo.

Life and work

Kelly, whose father was a set designer, grew up in Bridgeport. There he found his first job as a reporter and cartoonist for the local Bridgeport Post. From 1935 he worked for the Walt Disney Studios and was involved among other things in the animation of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Fantasia and Dumbo. After participating in a strike, he left Disney in 1941.

First Comic Publications by Kelly published by DC Comics in the mid-1930s. With the Strip around the possum Pogo he began in 1948 and led him away to his death. The comic, by Andreas C. Knigge one of the " most brilliant animal trips the comic book history ", was continued after his death, among other things, by his widow Selby and his daughter Carolyn.

Kelly was in 1951 awarded the Reuben Award. He was inducted into the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1995 in the Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame in 1992.