Cathy Guisewite facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Cathy Guisewite |
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Guisewite in 1987
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| Born | Cathy Lee Guisewite September 5, 1950 Dayton, Ohio, U.S. |
| Area(s) | Cartoonist |
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Notable works
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Cathy (1976–2010) |
| Awards | Emmy Award (1987) Reuben Award (1993) |
| Spouse(s) |
Christopher Wilkinson
(m. 1997; div. 2010) |
Cathy Lee Guisewite, born on September 5, 1950, is a famous American cartoonist. She is best known for creating the popular comic strip Cathy. This comic strip ran for 34 years, from 1976 to 2010. It followed the life of a woman dealing with everyday challenges like food, work, friendships, and family.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Cathy Guisewite was born in Dayton, Ohio. Her parents were William L. and Anne Guisewite. She grew up in Midland, Michigan, with her older sister Mary Anne and younger sister Mickey.
Cathy finished Midland High School in 1968. After high school, she went to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. She studied English and earned her bachelor's degree in 1972.
Starting Her Career
After college, Cathy Guisewite began working in advertising. She followed in her father's footsteps, who also worked in that field. She worked at several advertising companies, including Campbell-Ewald and Norman Prady.
She eventually settled at W.B. Doner & Co. near Detroit. By 1976, she had become a vice president at the company.
How Cathy Began
Cathy always enjoyed drawing funny pictures. She used drawing as a way to deal with her feelings about events in her life and work. She would often send these drawings to her parents.
Her mother kept telling her to send them to a publisher. Cathy finally did, mostly to get her mother to stop asking! She didn't really plan to create a comic strip at first.
Cathy was very surprised when a company sent her a contract to create a comic strip. The comic strip, called Cathy, started appearing in 66 newspapers in 1976. It was distributed by Universal Press Syndicate.
For a while, Cathy worked two jobs. She kept her advertising job during the day and worked on her comic strip at night.
Cathy Becomes Popular
By 1980, the Cathy comic strip was in 150 daily newspapers. Cathy was earning a good income from her comic strip. She decided to leave her advertising job to work on Cathy full-time. She then moved to Santa Barbara, California.
The comic strip was a way for Cathy to share her thoughts and feelings about the world. She explained that women at the time felt pressure to be either "liberated" or "traditional." It was hard to express feelings that didn't fit into one of those groups.
Cathy felt that many women her age, in their 20s, were in a similar situation. They were trying to figure out their place in the world. Her comic strip helped them feel understood.
Cathy Guisewite even appeared as a guest on the TV show The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson several times. At its most popular in the mid-1990s, Cathy was in almost 1,400 newspapers.
On August 11, 2010, Cathy Guisewite announced that she would be ending the comic strip. The final Cathy comic strip appeared on October 3, 2010.
Awards and Honors
Cathy Guisewite has received several important awards for her work.
- In 1987, she won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program. This was for the TV special based on her comic strip, called Cathy.
- She is a member of the National Cartoonists Society. In 1993, she received their highest honor, the Reuben Award. This award is given to the Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year.
Cathy Guisewite has also received honorary degrees from several colleges. These include Russell Sage College, Rhode Island College, and Eastern Michigan University.
Personal Life
Cathy Guisewite adopted her daughter, Ivy, in 1992. In 1997, she married screenwriter Christopher Wilkinson. Christopher had a son named Cooper. Cathy and Christopher did not have children together. They divorced in 2010.
