May 6, 2008
Ted Key, 1912-2008
The cartoonist Ted Key, best known for his magazine panel cartoon
Hazel and the creation of the iconic animated characters Sherman and Mr. Peabody,
died at his Chester County, Pennsylvania home on Saturday. He was 95 years old.
Key was born in Fresno, California in 1912. He attended the University of California at Berkeley and contributed cartoons to that university's newspaper. He began as a freelance upon graduating, and struggled for several years. His big break came in a 1943 sale to the
Saturday Evening Post that led to a subsequent sale featuring a brassy maid named Hazel. The character stuck with readers, and Key soon found the character's voice and settled into a long run with her, first as a popular weekly feature in the
Evening Post and eventually as a panel cartoon from King Features Syndicate. Don Markstein notes that the KFS pick-up in 1969
came after the Post folded. He would in 1977 win the NCS divisional award for newspaper panels.
The cartoon's success facilitated a move East to the town in which he would later pass away, where he became a local celebrity. The move probably helped the strip, which in the broadest sense recast certain elements of American social and culture clash into a suburban setting increasingly familiar to many US citizens.
A television show version of
Hazel starring Shirley Booth debuted in 1961 and ran for five years, four on NBC and one on CBS. Booth won two emmys for her portrayal of Key's character, and was nominated for a third. It wasn't Key's first foray into TV, having created the characters of Sherman and Peabody for the "
Peabody's Improbable History" segment that ran on several of Jay Ward's animated shows.
Other credits outside of comics include screenplays for the Disney movies
The Cat From Outer Space,
Million Dollar Duck and
Gus, and a number of children's book, including the extremely popular
The Biggest Dog In The World.
Although the exact cause of death is unknown, obituaries note that Key suffered major physical setbacks in 2006 and 2007. He is survived by his second wife, three sons, and three grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his first wife, in 1984.
posted 8:25 am PST |
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