Art Clokey
| Art Clokey | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Arthur Charles Farrington October 12, 1921 Detroit, Michigan |
| Died | January 8, 2010 (aged 88) Los Osos, California |
| Occupation | Animator |
| Years active | 1955–2010 |
| Known for | Creator of Gumby |
| Spouse(s) |
Ruth Clokey (m. 1948; div. 1966) Gloria Clokey (m. 1976; d. 1998) |
| Children | 2 |
Arthur "Art" Clokey (October 12, 1921 – January 8, 2010) was an American pioneer in the popularization of stop motion clay animation, best known as the creator of the character Gumby. Clokey's career began in 1955 with a film experiment called Gumbasia, which was influenced by his professor, Slavko Vorkapich, at the University of Southern California. Clokey and his wife Ruth subsequently came up with the clay character Gumby and his horse Pokey, who first appeared in the Howdy Doody Show, and later got their own series The Adventures of Gumby, with which they became a familiar presence on American television. The characters enjoyed a renewal of interest in the 1980s when American actor and comedian Eddie Murphy parodied Gumby in a skit on Saturday Night Live. In the 1990s Gumby: The Movie was released, sparking even more interest.
Clokey's second most famous production is the duo of Davey and Goliath, funded by the Lutheran Church in America.
Clokey was born Arthur Charles Farrington in Detroit, Michigan. When he was nine years old, his parents divorced and he stayed with his father, Charles Farrington. After his father died in a car accident, he went to live with his mother in California, but his stepfather had no interest in raising another man's son, and so Arthur was sent to an orphanage. When he was 11 or 12, he was adopted by Joseph W. Clokey, a classical music composer and organist who taught music at Pomona College in Claremont, California. He schooled Arthur in painting, drawing, and film making while also taking him on journeys to Canada and Mexico. The aesthetic environment later became the home of Clokey's most famous character, Gumby, whose name derives from his childhood experiences during summer visits to his grandfather's farm, when he enjoyed playing with the clay and mud mixture called "".
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