Percy Crosby | |
---|---|
Born | Percy Lee Crosby December 8, 1891 Brooklyn, New York United States |
Died | December 8, 1964 Kings Park, New York, U.S. |
(aged 73)
Nationality | American |
Area(s) | Cartoonist, Writer, Artist |
Notable works
|
Skippy |
www |
Medal record | ||
---|---|---|
Art competitions | ||
Representing the United States | ||
Olympic Games | ||
1932 Los Angeles | Watercolors and drawings |
Percy Lee Crosby (December 8, 1891 – December 8, 1964) was an American author, illustrator and cartoonist best known for his comic strip Skippy. Adapted into movies, a novel and a radio show, Crosby's creation was commemorated on a 1997 U.S. Postal Service stamp. An inspiration for Charles Schulz's Peanuts, the strip is regarded by comics historian Maurice Horn as a "classic... which innovated a number of sophisticated and refined touches used later by Charles Schulz and Bill Watterson." Humorist Corey Ford, writing in Vanity Fair, praised the strip as "America's most important contribution to humor of the century".
Percy Crosby was born in Brooklyn, New York, prior to the 1898 incorporation of the five boroughs of New York City. He grew up in Richmond Hill, in what would be the borough of Queens but at the time was considered part of Long Island. His father, Thomas Francis Crosby, the son of Catholic immigrants from County Louth, Ireland, was an amateur painter who ran an art supply business. His mother Frances (née Greene), known as Fanny, was of English and Scottish descent. Percy had two younger sisters, Ethel and Gladys.