Bil Keane (born October 5, 1922) is an American cartoonist best known for his work on the long-running newspaper comic The Family Circus, which began its run in 1960 and continues in syndication.
Bil Keane was born William Aloysius Keane in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He taught himself to draw while attending Northeast Catholic High School by mimicking the style of the cartoons published in The New Yorker. His first cartoon was published on May 2...
more
Bil Keane (born October 5, 1922) is an American cartoonist best known for his work on the long-running newspaper comic The Family Circus, which began its run in 1960 and continues in syndication.
Bil Keane was born William Aloysius Keane in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He taught himself to draw while attending Northeast Catholic High School by mimicking the style of the cartoons published in The New Yorker. His first cartoon was published on May 21, 1936 on the amateur page of the Philadelphia Daily News.
Keane served in the U.S. Army from 1942 to 1945, drawing for Yank magazine and creating the "At Ease with the Japanese" feature for the Pacific edition of Stars and Stripes. While stationed in Australia he met Thelma "Thel" Carne. Bil and Thel were married in Brisbane in 1948 and settled in Roslyn, Pennsylvania. Thel, the inspiration for the "Mommy" character in his long-running strip, died on May 23, 2008 from complications due to Alzheimer's Disease. They have five children, Gayle,...
less
