Garry Trudeau, Creator of Doonesbury

Trudeau has refused to licence the cartoon for advertising and merchandise and he rarely gives interviews. He has had the rare opportunity of taking a twenty-month sabbatical from January 1983 to September 1984 and returning to draw his strip as if he had never been away. His millions of fans (and his syndicate) waited patiently for his return.

Dissatisfaction with the shrinking space for comic strips in newspapers led Garry to take action. His influence as a top cartoonist helped to re-establish strip panels to the 7.33 inch width, rather than getting smaller and smaller due to cost-cutting newspaper editors. His effort was beneficial to all cartoonists.

Garry Trudeau has a spouse famous in her own right - Jane Pauley of Dateline NBC. She earned a degree in political science from Indiana University and has received several honourary degrees. Her successes began at a young age. At 24, Jane was the first woman to co-anchor a weeknight evening news program. Jane has received a long list of awards for her journalism work and she strongly supports issues of children's health and education. Jane and Garry have three teenagers, twins Rachel and Ross and Thomas. Their home is in Central Park West, Manhattan, NY.

Cartooning is not Garry's only means of communication. He has co-written and produced satirical revues for theatre and television. He writes essays for many publications including The New Yorker, The Washington Post, Harpers and Time Magazine. The Doonesbury characters have grown along with their author from college-age to middle-age boomers. They have evolved, taking in the topics and politics of the day. Garry Trudeau has no fear of satirizing and skewering even the most famous of personalities and largest of businesses. Some of the victims even like it. That's success.

The Doonesbury Official Website: http://www.doonesbury.com

For an indepth look at Garry Trudeau and Doonesbury take a look at: http://www.salon.com/people/bc/1999/11/0...

A short interview with Garry Trudeau: http://www.usatoday.com/community/chat/1...

Jane Pauley's interesting biography: http://www.msnbc.com/onair/bios/j_pauley...

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