Melvyn Keefer (July 2, 1926 – February 11, 2022) was an American comics artist and illustrator. Best known for the comic strip ''

Mac Divot ''Mac Divot'' was an American syndicated comic strip written by Jordan Lanski and drawn by Mel Keefer, and distributed by Chicago Tribune Syndicate. History The strip was originally called ''Links Driver'', and debuted in '' Chicago Tribune ...

'', he was a lifetime

Inkpot Award The Inkpot Award is an honor bestowed annually since 1974 by Comic-Con International. It is given to professionals in the fields of comic books, comic strips, animation, science fiction, and related areas of popular culture, at Comic-Con Internati ...

inductee.

Life and career

Born in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, Keefer trained as an illustrator at the

Santa Monica Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

School of Art run by Jefferson Machamer and the

ArtCenter College of Design The ArtCenter College of Design is a private art college in Pasadena, California. It was incorporated in 1930 as a degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of both the visual arts and design. ...

. He made his debut as a comics artist drawing ''

Perry Mason Perry Mason is a fictional character, an American criminal defense lawyer who is the main character in works of detective fiction written by Erle Stanley Gardner. Perry Mason features in 82 novels and four short stories, all of which involve a ...

'' for

King Features Syndicate King Features Syndicate, Inc. is an American content distribution and animation studio, consumer product License, licensing and print syndication company owned by Hearst Communications that distributes about 150 comic strips, columnist, newspape ...

. He is best known for the long-running golf-themed series ''

'', which he created together with Jordan Lanski for the Chicago Tribune Syndicate and which ran for twenty years starting from 1955. Other comic strips Keefer has worked in include ''Thorne McBride ''(1960–1963), ''

Rick O'Shay ''Rick O'Shay'' is a Western comic strip created by Stan Lynde, which debuted as a Sunday strip on April 27, 1958. The daily comic strip began on May 19 of the same year.

'' (which he drew between 1978 and 1981) and the comic versions of '' Dragnet'' and ''

Gene Autry Orvon Grover "Gene" Autry (September 29, 1907 – October 2, 1998), nicknamed the Singing Cowboy, was an American actor, musician, singer, composer, rodeo performer, and baseball team owner, who largely gained fame by singing in a Crooner ...

''. Besides his activity as a cartoonist, Keefer also worked as an illustrator for books, magazines and other publications. He authored the artwork of the

Richard Quine Richard Quine (November 12, 1920June 10, 1989) was an American director, actor, and singer. He began acting as a child in radio, vaudeville, and stage productions before being signed to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in his early twenties. When his acting ...

's film '' How to Murder Your Wife''. In 2007, Keefer was awarded a lifetime

for his career. Keefer died on February 11, 2022, at the age of 95.

References

External links

Mel Keefer
at

Lambiek Galerie Lambiek is a Dutch comic book store and art gallery in Amsterdam, founded on November 8, 1968 by Kees Kousemaker (, – Bussum Bussum () is a commuter town and former municipality in the Gooi region in the south east of the prov ...

Mel Keefer
at Inducks * {{DEFAULTSORT:Keefer, Mel 1926 births 2022 deaths American comics artists American comic strip cartoonists American sports comics artists American magazine illustrators Artists from Los Angeles ArtCenter College of Design alumni 20th-century American male artists