Floyd Gottfredson

Floyd Gottfredson (May 5, 1905 - July 22, 1986) is the man who gave Mickey Mouse his comic strip personality.

Arthur Floyd Gottfredson was born on May 5, 1906 in Kaysville, Utah. His grandfather, Peter Gottfredson had emigrated to Utah from Denmark in the 1840's. He came from a large Mormon family of 9 brothers and sisters. As a child, he severely injured his arm in a hunting accident. This disability stayed with him for the remainder of his life. The accident kept him house bound for quite a while during a long recovery. It was during this time that he became interested in cartooning. He took several cartooning correspondence courses. By the late 1920's he was drawing cartoons for trade journals and the Salt Lake City Telegram newspaper.

After winning a cartoon contest in 1928, he moved to southern California with his wife and family before Christmas. At the time, there were seven major newspapers in southern California, but Gottfredson was unable to find work with any of them. He had been a projectionist in Utah and soon got a job as one in California. A year later the movie theater was torn down and he had to look for work again.

Gottfredson heard that the Walt Disney Company was hiring artists and he presented his portfolio and applied for a job. He was hired as an apprentice animator by the Walt Disney Company on December 19, 1929. In April, 1930 he started working on the four month old Mickey Mouse comic strip. The original Mickey Mouse comic strip was scripted and drawn by Walt Disney. In May, 1930, Walt Disney turned over the drawing and story line responsibilities to Floyd Gottfredson. Gottfredson's first Mickey Mouse comic strip was published in newspapers on May 5, 1930 - Gottfredson's 25th birthday. On January 17, 1932, the first color Mickey Mouse comic strip was published. In addition to the daily comic strip, he drew the Sunday strip from 1932 until mid-1938. Gottfedson continued drawing and writing the story line of the daily Mickey Mouse comic strip until he retired on October 1, 1975. His last comic strip was published on November 15, 1975. Floyd Gottfredson preferred working in animation and had to be persuaded by Disney to take over the daily comic strip. Disney told him that someone else would probably take over the strip in several weeks. Disney must have forgotten his promise, because Floyd Gottfredson continued to produce the Mickey Mouse comic strips for the next 45-years.

He also created characters like Sylvester Shyster, Eli Squinch, Mickey's Nephews, Detective Casey, Chief O'Hara, and The Phantom Blot. Gottfredson drew Mickey Mouse Comic Strips from 1930 to 1975.

In his later years, before the onset of ill health, Floyd Gottfredson had interviews published by many comics-oriented magazines and other mainstream publications. He also received credit for the Mickey Mouse comic strips when they were reprinted.

He died in 1986 at his Southern California home.