- Born
- Died
- Birth nameWalter Crawford Kelly Jr.
- Walt Kelly was born on August 25, 1913 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. He was a writer and actor, known for Dumbo (1941), The Pogo Special Birthday Special (1969) and I Go Pogo (1980). He was married to Selby Daley, Stephanie Waggony and Helen DeLacy. He died on October 19, 1973 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- SpousesSelby Daley(October 23, 1972 - October 19, 1973) (his death)Stephanie Waggony(1951 - 1970) (her death, 5 children)Helen DeLacy(September 1937 - 1951) (divorced, 3 children)
- Wore thick framed glasses
- Created the renowned comic strip "Pogo", which featured an animal cast with adventures set in the Okefenokie Swamp. The strip was known for its biting political humor, and frequently attacked major political figures of the time, especially Senator Joseph McCarthy, who he depicted as "Simple J. Malarky", a shotgun wielding bobcat.
- The comic strip was also noted for unique speech balloons for select characters to give an impression as to what their "voices" would sound like. "P.T. Bridgeport", a con-artist bear and showman, had speech balloons resembling the type styles used in 19th century circus posters. "Sarcophagus Macabre", a vulture and mortician, had square, black framed speech balloons with script lettering in the style of funereal announcements. "Deacon Mushrat", an educated muskrat, had speech balloons with Old English lettering.
- Met his wife Selby during an animator's strike at Disney. He worked for Disney as a background artist, she as a cel painter.
- Recently released FBI files on Walt Kelly (via the Freedom of Information Act) reveal that he was suspected of sending some form of coded messages in the nonsense poetry and southern accents he peppered his strip with, and the FBI went so far as to have their cryptographers attempt to "decipher" the strip.
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