Norman Ray Bridwell (February 15, 1928 – December 12, 2014) was an American author and

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 g ...

best known for the ''

Clifford the Big Red Dog ''Clifford the Big Red Dog'' is an American children's book series about the adventures of a precocious girl named Emily Elizabeth and her titular pet: a giant, red-furred dog named Clifford. It was first published in 1963 and was written by N ...

'' book series.

Early life

Bridwell was born on February 15, 1928, in

Kokomo, Indiana Kokomo ( ) is a city in Indiana and the county seat of Howard County, Indiana, United States. It is the principal city of the Kokomo, Indiana Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Howard County, the Kokomo-Peru CSA, which include ...

, to Leona and Vern Bridwell. He graduated from

Kokomo High School Kokomo High School (merged with Haworth High School in 1984) is a four-year public high school in Kokomo, Indiana, USA. The school is the only high school in the Kokomo School Corporation. History The earliest Kokomo High School found in re ...

in 1945, and went on to attend

John Herron School of Art Herron School of Art and Design, officially IU Herron School of Art and Design, is a public art school at Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) in Indianapolis, Indiana. It is a professional art school and has been accredite ...

Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th st ...

, and

Cooper Union The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (Cooper Union) is a private college at Cooper Square in New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-supported École Polytechnique ...

, in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Clifford serves as the official mascot of

Scholastic Corporation Scholastic Corporation () is an American multinational publishing, education, and media company that publishes and distributes books, comics, and educational materials for schools, parents, and children. Products are distributed via retail and on ...

Career

Norman Bridwell, Clifford the Big Red Dog, 2011

Bridwell put together a portfolio and attempted to get a job as a children's book illustrator but was rejected by approximately fifteen publishing houses. While at

Harper & Row Harper is an American publishing house, the flagship imprint of global publisher HarperCollins based in New York City. History J. & J. Harper (1817–1833) James Harper and his brother John, printers by training, started their book publishin ...

, an editor offhandedly suggested he turn one of his drawings into a story. The drawing was of a young girl and a horse-sized bloodhound, and the story became ''Clifford the Big Red Dog''. That book spawned over 40 best-selling Clifford books,

three 3 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 3, three, or III may also refer to: * AD 3, the third year of the AD era * 3 BC, the third year before the AD era * March, the third month Books * '' Three of Them'' (Russian: ', literally, "three"), a 1901 ...

animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most ani ...

television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed be ...

, merchandise, a live musical and a

live-action film Live action (or live-action) is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live-action with animation to create a live-action animated film. Live-action is used to define film, video ga ...

. Clifford serves as the official mascot of

. Bridwell's other successful books include ''The Witch Next Door'', ''How to Care for Your Monster'', and ''A Tiny Family''. There are over 126 million copies of his books in print in 13 languages.

Personal life

In 1958, Bridwell was married to his wife Norma Ellen Howard. They had a daughter Emily Elizabeth Merz and a son named Tim. At the time of his death, they had three grandchildren. The Bridwells resided in

Edgartown Edgartown is a tourist destination on the island of Martha's Vineyard in Dukes County, Massachusetts, United States, for which it is the county seat. It was once a major whaling port, with historic houses that have been carefully preserved. To ...

Martha's Vineyard Martha's Vineyard, often simply called the Vineyard, is an island in the Northeastern United States, located south of Cape Cod in Dukes County, Massachusetts, known for being a popular, affluent summer colony. Martha's Vineyard includes the ...

, from 1969 until his death.

Death

Bridwell died on December 12, 2014, at the age of 86. His funeral was held at the Federated Church on South Summer street in Edgartown. He was cremated, and his ashes were given to his son, Tim.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bridwell, Norman 1928 births 2014 deaths American children's writers American children's book illustrators Cooper Union alumni Herron School of Art and Design alumni People from Kokomo, Indiana Writers from Indiana People from Edgartown, Massachusetts Clifford the Big Red Dog