Osvaldo Cavandoli (1 January 1920 – 3 March 2007), also known by his

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

Cava, was an Italian

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 ...

. His most famous work is his series of short animated cartoons, '' La Linea'' ("The Line").

Early life, family and education

Cavandoli was born in Maderno sul Garda,

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, on the shores of

Lake Garda Lake Garda ( it, Lago di Garda or ; lmo, label=Eastern Lombard, Lach de Garda; vec, Ƚago de Garda; la, Benacus; grc, Βήνακος) is the largest lake in Italy. It is a popular holiday location in northern Italy, about halfway between ...

. He and his family moved to

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

when he was two years old. (He was later made an honorary citizen of the city.)

Career

From 1936 to 1940, he worked as a technical designer for

Alfa Romeo Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. () is an Italian luxury car manufacturer and a subsidiary of Stellantis. The company was founded on 24 June 1910, in Milan, Italy. "Alfa" is an acronym of its founding name, "Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili." ...

. When he developed his interest in cartoons in 1943, he started working with Nino Pagot, who later created ''

Calimero ''Calimero'' is an animated television series about a charming, but hapless anthropomorphized chicken; the only black one in a family of yellow chickens. He wears half of his egg shell still on his head. Calimero originally appeared on th ...

''. In 1950 he started working independently as a director and a producer.

''La Linea''

Cavandoli enjoyed worldwide recognition in 1969 with his character '' La Linea'', a simply drawn cartoon born and lived out of a single white pencil stroke. Cavandoli initially proposed his work for ''

Carosello ''Carosello'' () was an Italian television advertising show broadcast on RAI from 1957 to 1977. The series mainly showed short sketch comedy films using live action, various types of animation, and puppetry. It had an audience of about 20 milli ...

'', an Italian advertisement break broadcast between 1957 and 1977. Massimo Lagostina, the owner of a popular eponymous brand of cookware, chose it as a testimonial for his advertising campaign. Following the success of the commercial, ''La Linea'' became the protagonist of an animated series subsequently adopted in many European countries.

Personal life and demise

Cavandoli died in

, Italy, at age 87.

References

1920 births 2007 deaths Italian animators Italian animated film directors Italian animated film producers Italian cartoonists {{Italy-cartoonist-stub