Michelle Urry (28 December 1939 – 15 October 2006, born Michelle Dorothy Kaplan) was the cartoon editor of ''

Playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. K ...

'' magazine for over 30 years. Together with

Hugh Hefner Hugh Marston Hefner (April 9, 1926 – September 27, 2017) was an American magazine publisher. He was the founder and editor-in-chief of ''Playboy'' magazine, a publication with revealing photographs and articles which provoked charges of obsc ...

, she edited the retrospective ''Playboy: 50 Years The Cartoons''. Among the cartoonists whose career she is credited with developing is B. Kliban. On learning of her death,

Jules Feiffer Jules Ralph Feiffer (born January 26, 1929)''Comics Buyer's Guide'' #1650; February 2009; Page 107 is an American cartoonist and author, who was considered the most widely read satirist in the country. He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1986 as North ...

told the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' she was the "mother superior to cartoonists." Urry was born in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749 ...

Manitoba , image_map = Manitoba in Canada 2.svg , map_alt = Map showing Manitoba's location in the centre of Southern Canada , Label_map = yes , coordinates = , capital = Win ...

. As a child, she collected comic books rather than the dolls favored by other girls of her age. She graduated from

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...

, and after running a dress shop she moved to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

, taking a low-level staff job with Playboy in the late 1960s. By 1971 Urry had become the magazine's cartoon editor, and she held that post until her death. In 1974, while visiting B. Kliban in his San Francisco studio, Urry was struck by a group of Kliban's offhand cartoons of cats, bought several of them, and prodded Kliban to create a book-length collection of similar work. Kliban's ''Cat'' became a best-selling book the next year, and spawned a wide range of popular merchandise. She married sculptor Stephen Urry and the couple had one child, Caleb Urry. After Stephen's death in 1993, she married

Alan Trustman Alan Trustman (born December 16, 1930) is an American lawyer, screenwriter, pari-mutuel operator and currency trader. He is best known for writing the 1968 film, '' The Thomas Crown Affair'', ''Bullitt'', and ''They Call Me Mister Tibbs!'', in hi ...

, a screenwriter who is best known for '' The Thomas Crown Affair'' and ''

Bullitt ''Bullitt'' is a 1968 American neo-noir action thriller film directed by Peter Yates and produced by Philip D'Antoni. The picture stars Steve McQueen, Robert Vaughn, and Jacqueline Bisset. The screenplay by Alan Trustman, Alan R. Trustman and H ...

''. Aside from her primary job at ''Playboy'', Urry served as a cartoon editor or consulting editor at many other magazines, including ''

Good Housekeeping ''Good Housekeeping'' is an American women's magazine featuring articles about women's interests, product testing by The Good Housekeeping Institute, recipes, diet, and health, as well as literary articles. It is well known for the "Good Hous ...

'' and '' Modern Maturity''.www.cartoonists.net

External links

obituary
*Sequential Comix News

References

1939 births 2006 deaths Artists from Winnipeg American women cartoonists American magazine editors Playboy people Women magazine editors American cartoonists 20th-century American women 21st-century American women {{US-editor-stub