Jim Davis was born in Marion, Indiana,
where he grew up on a small farm with his father Jim
Sr., his mother Betty, his brother Dave, and 25 cats.
His love of cartooning emerged during the time he would
normally be doing chores, but couldn't due to asthma.
As an Art and Business major at Ball State University,
he distinguished himself by earning one of the lowest
accumulative grade point averages in the history of
the school.
Prior to creating Garfield, Davis worked for a local
advertising agency and later was an assistant on Tom
Ryan's comic strip, Tumbleweeds. He then created a comic
strip, Gnorm Gnat, that ran for five years in The Pendleton
Times, an Indiana newspaper. Davis tried to sell it
to a national comic strip syndicate, but was told, "It's
funny. But bugs? Who can relate to a bug?" Five
years after starting Gnorm Gnat, Davis drew a giant
foot that fell out of the sky, crushing Gnorm and ending
the comic strip.
On June 19, 1978, Garfield started syndication in
41 newspapers. Today, it appears in more than 2,500
newspapers, the world record for a currently-syndicated
comic strip. Garfield's name comes from Davis' grandfather,
James Garfield Davis. There has been speculation that
he was named for the assassinated President of the United
States, James Abram Garfield.
Garfield and Friends was an animated cartoon series
that ran for seven years between 1988 and 1994; it was
also created by cartoonist Davis and featured segments
that were based on his comic strips; Garfield and U.S.
Acres, a lesser-known comic strip, also created by Davis,
featuring Orson the Pig. Outside the U.S., the strip
was known as Orson's Farm.
He now resides in Muncie, Indiana where he and his
staff continue to produce Garfield under his own company,
Paws, Inc., which started in 1981. He is married to
Carolyn, a singer and elementary teacher whom he met
while both were attending college, and has a son named
James.
Ironically, Davis did not have cats when he started
Garfield and still does not today, as his wife is allergic
to them. He does, however, have a dog named Molly.
The live-action film version of Davis' creation, Garfield:
The Movie was released to theaters early in the summer
of 2004. Though it was a box office success and featured
Bill Murray as the voice of Garfield, it received generally
negative reviews. |
