Alexander Hume Anderson Jr. (September 5, 1920 – October 22, 2010) was an American

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...

who created the characters of

Rocky the Flying Squirrel Rocket "Rocky" J. Squirrel, also known as Rocky the Flying Squirrel, is a fictional character and one of the two male protagonists of the 1959–1964 animated series ''Rocky and His Friends'' and ''The Bullwinkle Show'' (both shows often referr ...

, Bullwinkle, and

Dudley Do-Right Dudley Do-Right is a fictional character created by Alex Anderson, Chris Hayward, Allan Burns, Jay Ward, and Bill Scott, who appears as the main protagonist of "Dudley Do-Right of the Mounties", a segment on ''The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show.'' ...

, as well as

Crusader Rabbit ''Crusader Rabbit'' is the first animated series produced specifically for television. Its main characters were Crusader Rabbit and his sidekick Ragland T. Tiger, or "Rags". The stories were four-minute-long satirical cliffhangers. The concept ...

. He was not directly involved in ''

The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show ''The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends'' (commonly referred to as simply ''Rocky and Bullwinkle'') is an American animated television series that originally aired from November 19, 1959, to June 27, 1964, on the American Broadca ...

'', however.

Biography

Alexander Hume Anderson Jr. was born September 5, 1920 in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...

, to Olga B. (née Terry) and Alexander Anderson. He attended the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

, and the

California School of Fine Arts San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) was a private college of contemporary art in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1871, SFAI was one of the oldest art schools in the United States and the oldest west of the Mississippi River. Approximately ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. He received an honorary degree from San Francisco Art institute in 2000. Anderson was a nephew of

Mighty Mouse Mighty Mouse is an American animated anthropomorphic superhero mouse character created by the Terrytoons studio for 20th Century Fox. The character was originally called Super Mouse, and made his debut in the 1942 short ''The Mouse of Tomorro ...

producer Paul Terry, and began his career in 1938, working summer vacations, during college, at his

Terrytoons Terrytoons was an American animation studio in New Rochelle, New York, that produced animated cartoons for theatrical release from 1929 to 1973 (and briefly returned between 1987 and 1996 for television in name only). Terrytoons was founded by ...

animation studio. Anderson served in Navy intelligence during World War II. Anderson pitched a "limited animation" cartoon series for TV, to his uncle, Paul Terry, but he couldn't because, 20th Century Fox, who distributed Terrytoons cartoons, saw TV as a threat. After the war, Anderson and

Jay Ward Joseph Ward Cohen Jr. (September 20, 1920 – October 12, 1989), also known as Jay Ward, was an American creator and producer of animated TV cartoon shows. He produced animated series based on such characters as Crusader Rabbit, Rocky & Bul ...

, a former real-estate salesman and childhood friend, formed a business in the late 1940s to pitch cartoon ideas to television, including Crusader Rabbit, Rocky, Bullwinkle, and Dudley Do-Right. In 1948, Anderson and Ward created a television pilot, "The Comic Strips of Television" Only Crusader Rabbit was accepted, and after Anderson's other cartoon ideas failed to sell, he joined a

advertising agency, becoming an art director, while Ward moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

to try to sell TV studios on a Bullwinkle series. Anderson saw a 1991 documentary about the show which did not mention his name, he filed suit against Jay Ward Productions, two years after

's death. Anderson, who had not received public recognition for creating Dudley Do-Right, Bullwinkle and Rocky, learned the characters had been copyrighted in Ward's name alone. Consequently, Anderson sued Ward's heirs to reclaim creator credit. In 1993 or 1996, (sources differ), Anderson received a settlement and a court order acknowledging him as "the creator of the first version of the characters of Rocky, Bullwinkle and Dudley."

Ted Key Ted Key (born Theodore Keyser; August 25, 1912 – May 3, 2008)
''The New York Times'', May 8, 2008 was a ...

, creator of the comic strip ''

Hazel The hazel (''Corylus'') is a genus of deciduous trees and large shrubs native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. The genus is usually placed in the birch family Betulaceae,Germplasmgobills Information Network''Corylus''Rushforth, K. (1999). ...

'', had a similar situation with his characters

Mr. Peabody Hector J. Peabody, simply referred to as Mr. Peabody, is an anthropomorphic cartoon dog who appeared in the late 1950s and early 1960s television animated series ''The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends'', produced by Jay Ward. Peabo ...

and his pet boy Sherman.

Death

Anderson died due to complications of

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in short-term me ...

at the age of 90 on October 22, 2010, at a nursing home in

Carmel, California Carmel-by-the-Sea (), often simply called Carmel, is a city in Monterey County, California, United States, founded in 1902 and incorporated on October 31, 1916. Situated on the Monterey Peninsula, Carmel is known for its natural scenery and ric ...

. He was survived by his wife of 36 years, Patricia Larsen Anderson, his third spouse following divorces from first wife Gail and second wife Beverly. He had two children from his first marriage, sons Terry and Scott, and three stepchildren, Matthew Kennedy, Carolyn Kennedy, and Daniel Kennedy.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Alex 1920 births 2010 deaths American cartoonists Deaths from Alzheimer's disease Deaths from dementia in California Artists from Berkeley, California United States Navy personnel of World War II University of California, Berkeley alumni Burials at Woodlawn Memorial Park Cemetery (Colma, California)

Biography

Death

References

Further reading

External links