ROCKY AND BULLWINKLE CARTOONIST ANDERSON DIES
Cartoonist ALEX ANDERSON, who created beloved U.S. TV characters ROCKY AND BULLWINKLE, has died after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease. He was 90.
Anderson died in Carmel, California on Friday (22Oct10), his wife, Patricia, confirmed to the New York Times.
He was the first cartoonist to draw Rocky the flying squirrel and his buddy, a moose named Bullwinkle, for 1959 ABC network series Rocky and His Friends, created by Jay Ward and Bill Scott. In 1961 the comedy moved to NBC as The Bullwinkle Show. Anderson was not involved in the production of either series.
Before the success of Rocky and Bullwinkle, Anderson worked with Ward to create Crusader Rabbit, which featured his other cartoon creations, including Dudley Do-Right, a Canadian Mountie.
But the pair’s collaboration was marred by litigation following Ward’s death.
When Anderson saw a documentary about the Rock and Bullwinkle characters in 1991 that failed to credit him, he filed suit against Jay Ward Productions, two years after Ward died.
A settlement was reached in 1996, with a court-mandated acknowledgement of Anderson as “the creator of the first version of the characters". The financial component of the settlement was sealed.
Anderson is survived by his wife, Patricia, four sons, a daughter, 14 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
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