Art Clokey, who created the animated "Gumby" figure died at the age of 88 on January, 8, 2010. He died in his sleep at his home in Los Osos, California.
He created "Gumby" as part of a student project while attending the University of Southern California in the early 1950's. As a result, he started to create short features for the "Howdy Doody Show' using "Gumby" and his sidekick "Pokey".
"Gumby's" sloping head was based on the cowlick hairdo of his father. Clokey's wife came up with the idea of "Gumby" having the body of gingerbread man.
"Gumby" had a great surge in popularity in the 1980's after comedian Eddie Murphy portrayed the character on Saturday Night Live as a cigar-smoking show business primadonna.
Clokey enjoyed Murphy's character, especially because it created a large increase in the amount of licenced merchandise sales. This was the greatest financial windfall for Clokey in his career as he did not make a large amount previously.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment