Ronald Searle, creator of St. Trinian's, dies at 91.
posted by Ideefixe on Jan 3, 2012 - 36 comments

Actor, Playwright, Artist, Comedian, Magician, "Man of A Thousand Voices" (including Mighty Mouse,) "Beloved Herring Maven"

Mr. Ira Stadlen (Stage name: "Captain" Allen Swift) has passed away at the age of 87. Throughout his career, Mr. Stadler voiced characters in more than 30,000 television and radio commercials, as well as cartoons such as Underdog, Tom and Jerry and Diver Dan, but some might remember him most as the man who saved Howdy Doody. His nephew has posted a remembrance on his blog, which includes a link to a "novelty 45" mp3 recording of Swift's "Are You Lonesome Tonight." [more inside]
posted by zarq on Apr 28, 2010 - 13 comments

The last of the great animation directors has died. Joe Barbera was half of the Hanna-Barbera duo that created the Oscar-winning Tom and Jerry cartoons for MGM. When that studio closed, they learned how to do cartoons for television on a much smaller budget, and gave us so many memorable characters. Mark Evanier worked for Barbera, and is sharing his memories on his always excellent blog.
posted by evilcolonel on Dec 18, 2006 - 77 comments

Cartoonist Bill Mauldin Dead at 81. Mauldin was the creator of the every-GIs Willie and Joe during WWII and twice won the Pulitzer Prize.
posted by turbodog on Jan 22, 2003 - 11 comments

So Charles Schulz ran out of ink about two hours ago, preceded in death by about five hours by Tom Landry. The worst part is, both were in my dead pool, which starts in about 24 hours. (The second-worst thing is all the "It's a sad day for Snoopy" and "Good grief" ledes we're going to have to endure. Blech.)

The Dallas Morning News obit went over the wires at 85 inches before Landy was even cold. Gee, you think they saw this one coming?
posted by luke on Feb 12, 2000 - 9 comments