Mr. Magoo

Mr. Magoo
Mr. Magoo and McBarker from What's New, Mr. Magoo?
Created by	Millard Kaufman John Hubley Willis Pyle
Portrayed by	Jim Backus (1949-1989) Jim Conroy (Kung Fu Magoo) Leslie Nielsen (film)
Information
Aliases	Quincy Magoo
Gender	Male
Nationality	American

Quincy Magoo (or simply Mr. Magoo) is a cartoon character created at the UPA animation studio in 1949. Voiced by Jim Backus, Quincy Magoo is a wealthy, short-statured retiree who gets into a series of comical situations as a result of his blindness, compounded by his stubborn refusal to admit the problem. However, through uncanny streaks of luck, the situation always seems to work itself out for him, leaving him no worse than before.

Affected people (or animals) consequently tend to think that he is a lunatic, rather than just being nearsighted. In later cartoons he is also an actor, and generally a competent one except for his visual impairment.

Magoo has won 2 Oscars for Academy Award for Best Short Subject (Cartoons). It, along with Tom and Jerry, The Pink Panther, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Silly Symphonies and Looney Tunes, are notable for their Oscar achievements.

In 2002, TV Guide ranked Mr. Magoo number 29 on its "50 Greatest Cartoon Characters of All Time" list.

Mr. Magoo's first appearance was in the theatrical short cartoon The Ragtime Bear (1949), scripted by Millard Kaufman. His creation was a collaborative effort; animation director John Hubley is said to have partly based the character on his uncle Harry Woodruff, and W. C. Fields was another source of inspiration. In a legend circulating among medievalists, Harvard professor Francis P. Magoun is also said to have been the model for the character. However, there is no evidence that artist Hubley knew the scholar. Columbia was reluctant to release the short, but did so, only because it included a bear. However, audiences quickly realized that the real star was Magoo, one of the few "human" cartoon characters ever produced in Hollywood at the time. The short became a box-office success.