George Gately Gallagher (December 21, 1928 – September 30, 2001), better known as George Gately, was born in Queens Village, Queens. He is best known as the creator of the popular comic character Heathcliff.
Gately was born into a family of comic lovers. His father was an amateur doodler and his elder brother John was also a cartoonist. He grew up and went to school in Bergenfield, New Jersey. Later he studied art at the Pratt Institute in New Yo...
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George Gately Gallagher (December 21, 1928 – September 30, 2001), better known as George Gately, was born in Queens Village, Queens. He is best known as the creator of the popular comic character Heathcliff.
Gately was born into a family of comic lovers. His father was an amateur doodler and his elder brother John was also a cartoonist. He grew up and went to school in Bergenfield, New Jersey. Later he studied art at the Pratt Institute in New York City.
After graduating, he worked at an advertising agency for eleven years but was bored. Seeing the success of his elder brother as a cartoonist, George also decided to enter this field. In 1957 he sold his first comic. He dropped his last name of Gallagher to avoid confusion with his brother.
In 1964, he created his first strip 'Hapless Harry', which ran for a few years in several newspapers. But his most memorable creation came in 1971 in the form of a fat orange cat, Heathcliff.
Heathcliff was an enormous success and soon appeared in...
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