William Gaetano Lignante (March 20, 1925 – February 27, 2018), better known as Bill Lignante, was an American artist notable for his varied career as a comic book illustrator,

comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

artist, animator and television courtroom sketch artist.

Early life and career

Born in Brooklyn, New York in March 1925, Lignante was in the Navy and studied art at

Pratt Institute Pratt Institute is a private university with its main campus in Brooklyn, New York (state), New York. It has a satellite campus in Manhattan and an extension campus in Utica, New York at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. The school was ...

. He first drew '' The Phantom'' when he completed a strip left unfinished after the death of Wilson McCoy in 1961. He then drew the

Sunday strip The Sunday comics or Sunday strip is the comic strip section carried in most western newspapers, almost always in color. Many newspaper readers called this section the Sunday funnies, the funny papers or simply the funnies. The first US newspap ...

from August, 1961 to May 1962. He did ''The Phantom'' comic book (interior art) for Gold Key Comics, from issue 1–18; continuing the book for King Comics, through issue 28 and he also contributed to Charlton Comics, when they published ''Phantom'' issues 30-74 (although Jim Aparo did most art, as Lignante was in courtrooms by then). He had a 16-year career as an

animator An animator is an artist who creates multiple images, known as frames, which give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, and video gam ...

(layout artist) for

Hanna-Barbera Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ) was an American animation studio and production company which was active from 1957 to 2001. It was founded on July 7, 1957, by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera following the decision of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to c ...

Courtroom sketch artist

Of his many illustration assignments, Lignante wrote, "None of these compare to the instant art of the courtroom. No roughs, research, conferences, assistants, editors and no time. What you see, you draw, so that the world can see it too." In the 26 years he spent as a

courtroom artist A courtroom sketch is an artistic depiction of the proceedings in a court of law. In many jurisdictions, cameras are not allowed in courtrooms in order to prevent distractions and preserve privacy. This requires news media to rely on sketch a ...

for ABC Network News, he illustrated 60 trials, including those of Sirhan Sirhan,

Charles Manson Charles Milles Manson (; November 12, 1934November 19, 2017) was an American criminal and musician who led the Manson Family, a cult based in California, in the late 1960s. Some of the members committed a series of nine murders at four loca ...

and

Patty Hearst Patricia Campbell Hearst (born February 20, 1954) is the granddaughter of American publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst. She first became known for the events following her 1974 kidnapping by the Symbionese Liberation Army. She was found a ...

Personal life

Living in

Carlsbad, California Carlsbad is a coastal city in the North County region of San Diego County, California, United States. The city is south of downtown Los Angeles and north of downtown San Diego. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 114,746. ...

with his wife, former actress

Alma Carroll Alma Carroll (January 11, 1924 – May 3, 2019) was an American actress who was named Miss America of National Defense at the age of 17. Early years Carroll was born in Los Angeles, California on January 11, 1924, as the daughter of Mrs. Ernest ...

, Lignante often traveled during three decades to deliver his "Trials of a Courtroom Artist" lecture. His daughter Russelle, her husband Robert and their children are

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

residents. Lignante died on February 27, 2018, at the age of 92.Bill Lignante obituary
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References

External links

Speakers Bureau: Bill Lignante
1925 births 2018 deaths American animators American comics artists Courtroom sketch artists Hanna-Barbera people People from Brooklyn People from Carlsbad, California {{HannaBarbera-stub