A Bit About his Life
Charles Monroe Schulz was born on November the 26th 1922 in Minneapolis, America. His father was Charles Schulz and his mother was Dena Halverson. Carl was a barber, but before Charles was born, he owned several barbers and small gas stations. When Charles was born, his uncle, Oscar Halverson, said, "By golly, we're going to call him Spark Plug!" Spark Plug was a horse from a popular comic named Barney Google. One of his cousins shortened it to "Sparky".
When Charles grew a bit older, he started to share a "Sunday ritual" with his father. They would read the "Sunday Funnies" (comics) from the paper together. His favourite characters were Popeye, Mickey Mouse and Skippy. This is what started his ambition to be a cartoonist.
Charles also unfortunately had very bad asthma, so whenever he was sick on the bed, his mother would give him a piece of paper and pencil, so he could draw. This helped him hone his skills.
At school, he was so smart that he skipped two grades! but he had to repeat year 8, because of his size. At that time, his mother also encouraged him to take art classes at "Art instruction Inc". Charles started getting bad grades in high school, because he spent all his spare time drawing!
When he was a teenager, in 1937, a picture of his second dog, Spike, was published in "Ripleys Believe It or Not!" He submitted it via his nickname "Sparky".
In 1943, his mother died of Cervical Cancer at the age of 60. The Friday after his mother's death, he was taken away by the army, to fight the Germans.
In 1949, Charles married Joyce Halverson. They had 5 children, Craig, Amy, Monte and Jill Schulz. In 1972, they divorced and the following year Charles re-married Jean Clyde. They didn't have any children together, but they adopted Meredith Hodges, who was going to become the famous author and equine trainer and competitor.
In 1950, he returned to his father and started working at his old art school, "Art Instruction Inc." as an art teacher. He also started writing and drawing comics for the local papers (St Paul Pioneer Press and The Saturday Evening Post) named Li'l Folks.
The United Feature Syndicate started noticing his comics and bought it from him in 1950. They had to change the name of the comic, because there already was another comic named Little Folks by Tack Knight. So the United Feature Syndicate decided to change the name to Peanuts. Charles never liked the name, but he had to live with it.
He received the Yale Humour Award in 1956, the School Bell Award and the National Education Association in 1960. He received his Honours from Anderson College in 1963 and St Mary's College of California in 1969. In 1980, the United Feature Syndicate created the Charles M Schulz Award. He was also put in the Hollywood Walk of Fame in
In November, 1999, Charles was diagnosed with Colon Cancer. The following month, he released the news of his retirement after the final Peanuts comic, which was to be released on February the 13th, 2000.
Charles Monroe "Sparky" Schulz died on the day before his final comic, on February the 12th, 2000, in Santa Rosa, California, America.
Charles M. Schulz's full biography should be available at your local library or buy the eBook of Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography by David Michaelis.
When Charles grew a bit older, he started to share a "Sunday ritual" with his father. They would read the "Sunday Funnies" (comics) from the paper together. His favourite characters were Popeye, Mickey Mouse and Skippy. This is what started his ambition to be a cartoonist.
Charles also unfortunately had very bad asthma, so whenever he was sick on the bed, his mother would give him a piece of paper and pencil, so he could draw. This helped him hone his skills.
At school, he was so smart that he skipped two grades! but he had to repeat year 8, because of his size. At that time, his mother also encouraged him to take art classes at "Art instruction Inc". Charles started getting bad grades in high school, because he spent all his spare time drawing!
When he was a teenager, in 1937, a picture of his second dog, Spike, was published in "Ripleys Believe It or Not!" He submitted it via his nickname "Sparky".
In 1943, his mother died of Cervical Cancer at the age of 60. The Friday after his mother's death, he was taken away by the army, to fight the Germans.
In 1949, Charles married Joyce Halverson. They had 5 children, Craig, Amy, Monte and Jill Schulz. In 1972, they divorced and the following year Charles re-married Jean Clyde. They didn't have any children together, but they adopted Meredith Hodges, who was going to become the famous author and equine trainer and competitor.
In 1950, he returned to his father and started working at his old art school, "Art Instruction Inc." as an art teacher. He also started writing and drawing comics for the local papers (St Paul Pioneer Press and The Saturday Evening Post) named Li'l Folks.
The United Feature Syndicate started noticing his comics and bought it from him in 1950. They had to change the name of the comic, because there already was another comic named Little Folks by Tack Knight. So the United Feature Syndicate decided to change the name to Peanuts. Charles never liked the name, but he had to live with it.
He received the Yale Humour Award in 1956, the School Bell Award and the National Education Association in 1960. He received his Honours from Anderson College in 1963 and St Mary's College of California in 1969. In 1980, the United Feature Syndicate created the Charles M Schulz Award. He was also put in the Hollywood Walk of Fame in
In November, 1999, Charles was diagnosed with Colon Cancer. The following month, he released the news of his retirement after the final Peanuts comic, which was to be released on February the 13th, 2000.
Charles Monroe "Sparky" Schulz died on the day before his final comic, on February the 12th, 2000, in Santa Rosa, California, America.
Charles M. Schulz's full biography should be available at your local library or buy the eBook of Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography by David Michaelis.