John Cullen Murphy
John Cullen Murphy (May 3, 1919 – July 2, 2004) was an American illustrator best known for his three decades of work on the Prince Valiant comic strip.
Born in New York City, Murphy attended the Art Institute of Chicago, where his family lived until 1929, when they moved to New Rochelle, a well known artist colony and home to many of the top commercial illustrators of the day.[1]
He aspired to be a baseball player and was playing baseball when a New Rochelle neighbor, Norman Rockwell, asked the 15-year-old if he would like to model for a painting. Rockwell's Starstruck, showing a forlorn Murphy gazing at pictures of movie starlets, was the September 22, 1934 cover of The Saturday Evening Post. Rockwell became one of Murphy's good friends and mentors.[2]
Murphy entered the Army in 1940, joining the 7th Regiment. He became an anti-aircraft officer during World War II, rising to the rank of major. He spent several years in the Pacific, beginning in Australia and ending in Tokyo. He was an aide to General Richard Marquat, who was on General Douglas MacArthur's staff. During the war, Murphy continued to illustrate, sending work to the Chicago Tribune and painting numerous portraits of military figures.
Magazine illustration
Murphy resumed his art career upon his return from military service. During the 1940s, Murphy was a popular magazine illustrator, regularly seen in Collier's, Look, Esquire, Liberty, Sport, Holiday and Columbia, published by the Knights of Columbus.
He often specialized in sports, and it was his boxing material that unexpectedly led him into the comic strip field, something he had never previously considered. In 1950, writer Elliot Caplin (brother of cartoonist Al Capp) suggested that Murphy illustrate a boxing comic strip he had in mind, Big Ben Bolt, and he agreed. Murphy was the artist of Big Ben Bolt from 1950 to 1978.
In 1951, Murphy married Joan Byrne, also from New Rochelle, and they had eight children.
Prince Valiant
Murphy began his collaboration on Prince Valiant with creator Hal Foster in 1970 when Foster decided to lessen his workload at age 78. With Foster's retirement in 1979, Murphy's son Cullen took over the writing. Cullen Murphy began contributing stories to Foster while studying at Amherst College. Murphy continued to draw Prince Valiant with his son scripting and his daughter doing the lettering and coloring. He retired in March 2004, turning the strip over to his chosen successor, illustrator Gary Gianni. Murphy died four months later in Cos Cob, Connecticut.
Awards
For his work on Big Ben Bolt and Prince Valiant, Murphy was honored with the National Cartoonists Society's Story Comic Strip Award in 1971 and again for Prince Valiant in 1974, 1976, 1978, 1984 and 1987.[3] He received the Elzie Segar Award in 1983.