Alberto Aleandro Uderzo (; 25 April 1927 – 24 March 2020), better known as Albert Uderzo (), was a French

comic book artist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the literary ...

and

scriptwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

. He is best known as the co-creator and illustrator of the ''

Astérix ''Asterix'' ( or , "Asterix the Gaul"; also known as ''Asterix and Obelix'' in some adaptations or ''The Adventures of Asterix'') is a French comic album series about a Gaulish village which, thanks to a magic potion that enhances strength ...

'' series in collaboration with

René Goscinny René Goscinny (; ; 14 August 1926 – 5 November 1977) was a French comic editor and writer, who created the ''Asterix, Astérix'' comic book series with illustrator Albert Uderzo. Born in France to a Jewish family from Poland, he spent his chil ...

. He also drew other comics such as '' Oumpah-pah'', again with Goscinny. Uderzo retired in September 2011.

Early life

Uderzo was born in

Fismes Fismes () is a Communes of France, commune in the Marne (department), Marne Departments of France, department in the Grand Est region of north-eastern France. The commune has been awarded three flowers in the ''Concours des villes et villages fl ...

in the Marne department of France on 25 April 1927 as the fourth child of Italian immigrants Silvio Uderzo (1888–1985), a carpenter, and his wife Iria Uderzo (, 1897–1997). His parents had met in 1915 in

La Spezia La Spezia (, or ; ; , in the local ) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy. La Spezia is the second-largest city in the Liguria ...

, where Silvio Uderzo was recovering after being wounded while serving in the

Royal Italian Army The Royal Italian Army () (RE) was the land force of the Kingdom of Italy, established with the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy. During the 19th century Italy started to unify into one country, and in 1861 Manfredo Fanti signed a decree c ...

during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. Uderzo's mother, Iria Crestini, was working in the arsenals of La Spezia, along with many young Italian women at the time. Silvio was discharged from military service after the war, on 19 June 1919. The two became a couple and married shortly before the birth of their first child, Bruno (1920–2004). After Bruno, they had Rina in 1922. They moved from Italy to France with their then two children, first settling in

Chauny Chauny () is a Communes of France, commune in the Aisne Departments of France, department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. History There has been a settlement on the site, more or less continuously, since at least the Carolingian era. Kno ...

in the Aisne departement. They changed location regularly. In Chauny, a son named Albert was born in 1925 but died of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

at the age of 8 months. The Uderzos decided to name their next son in honor of the late brother. The name "Albert", that of the deceased brother, became the Italian "Alberto" because the registrar misunderstood Silvio Uderzo's heavy Italian accent. The name "Aleandro" is in honor of Uderzo's paternal grandfather. Uderzo was born on the morning of 25 April 1927 around 07:00. At this point, he was an Italian citizen rather than a French one. Uderzo was born with six fingers on each hand. The additional fingers were surgically removed early in childhood as a precaution, as the infant Uderzo would sometimes violently pull on them when enraged or annoyed. In 1929, the Uderzos moved to

Clichy-sous-Bois Clichy-sous-Bois () is a commune in the eastern suburbs of Paris. It is located from central Paris.Mussolini's dictatorship and its involvement in the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

. Uderzo at one particular point became the target of the anger of a victim of Italian-German bombardment in the Spanish Civil War, and said a man spat in his face. However, apart from the occasional ethnic resentment against Italians, Uderzo viewed his childhood and education in Clichy-sous-Bois fondly in retrospect. His mother gave birth to two more children: Jeanne was born in 1932 and Marcel in 1933. Uderzo came in touch with the arts for the first time during kindergarten, where he was noted as talented for his age. Most of his siblings also shared certain artistic talents, and their mother used sheets of paper and pencils to give the children, especially her oldest son Bruno, something to do. Bruno became an inspiration for Albert and in turn, soon noted the younger brother's talent. At this point, Albert did not yet aim to become a professional artist later in life and instead dreamt about a career as a clown and, after dropping that aspiration, aimed to follow Bruno into the craft of aircraft engineering. At the same time, he came in contact with the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

comic a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicat ...

and

animated cartoon Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby still images are manipulated to create moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Animati ...

cultures, particularly with the early works of

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney ( ; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the Golden age of American animation, American animation industry, he introduced several develop ...

Mickey Mouse Mickey Mouse is an American cartoon character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime icon and mascot of the Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red shorts, large shoes, and white ...

and

Donald Duck Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created by the Walt Disney Company. Donald is an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor suit, sailor shirt and cap with ...

. The family moved to the Rue de Montreuil in the

11th arrondissement of Paris The 11th arrondissement of Paris (''XIe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 Arrondissements of Paris, arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, the arrondissement is referred to as ''le onzième'' (; "the eleventh"). The ar ...

in October 1938, changing both schools and the social vicinity. Although Albert, now with a Parisian accent, was no longer easily recognized as of Italian heritage, he nonetheless had problems in school. His only successful area in his educational pursuits was sketching and the arts. It would take him until around the age of 11 or 12 to go from sketching to painting in colors, however, which was when his parents discovered that Uderzo was

color blind Color blindness, color vision deficiency (CVD) or color deficiency is the decreased ability to see color or differences in color. The severity of color blindness ranges from mostly unnoticeable to full absence of color perception. Color bl ...

. From then on, Uderzo would use labels on his colors, but as he mostly stuck with black-and-white sketching, it would not make a huge impact on his artistic career either way. In September 1939, Germany invaded Poland and France declared war on Germany in response. Albert's father Silvio, by then 51, was too old to be conscripted into the French army, whereas Albert himself was too young at 12. Bruno, however, was of military age and was called to action, which he survived without injury. Albert soon finished his basic education at the age of 13 and decided to follow Bruno into aircraft engineering.

Working with Goscinny

After working on various creations and travelling for the next few years, Uderzo met

in 1951. The two men quickly became good friends, and decided to work together in 1952 at the newly opened Paris office of the Belgian company, World Press. Their first creations were the characters Oumpah-pah, Jehan Pistolet and Luc Junior. In 1958 they adapted ''Oumpah-pah'' for serial publication in the Franco-Belgian comics magazine ''

Tintin Tintin usually refers to: * ''The Adventures of Tintin'', the comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé ** Tintin (character), the protagonist and titular character of the series Tintin or Tin Tin may also refer to: Material related to ''The A ...

'', where it ran until 1962. In 1959 Goscinny and Uderzo became editor and artistic director (respectively) of ''

Pilote ''Pilote'' (), for a while subtitled ''the magazine of Asterix and Obelix'' (French: ''Le Journal D’Astérix et D’Obélix'' ) was a French comics magazine published from 1959 to 1989. Showcasing most of the major Franco-Belgian comics, French ...

'' magazine, a new venture aimed at older children. The magazine's first issue introduced

to the French world, and it was an instant hit. During this period Uderzo also collaborated with

Jean-Michel Charlier Jean-Michel Charlier (; 30 October 1924 – 10 July 1989) was a Belgian comics writer. He was a co-founder of the famed Franco-Belgian comics magazine '' Pilote''. Life Charlier was born in Liège, Belgium, in 1924.De Weyer, Geert (2005) ...

on the realistic series '' Michel Tanguy'', later named ''Les Aventures de Tanguy et Laverdure''. Astérix was serialised in ''Pilote'', and in 1961 the first story ''Astérix le Gaulois (Asterix the Gaul)'' was published as an individual album. New Astérix albums were regularly published by the duo over the next sixteen years, until Goscinny’s sudden death in 1977. Thereafter Uderzo continued to write and illustrate the books on his own, published by his own publishing house "Albert René", though at a significantly slower pace (averaging one edition every three to five years compared to two editions a year when working with Goscinny).

Family

Uderzo married Ada Milani in 1953 and had one daughter Sylvie Uderzo (b. 1956). After Uderzo fired Sylvie and her husband in 2007 as managers of his estate and agreed to sell his share of

Éditions Albert René Éditions Albert René is a French publishing house created in 1979 by cartoonist Albert Uderzo, two years after the death of his collaborating scriptwriter René Goscinny. The company Lagardère Publishing (via Hachette Livre) owns 100% of the pu ...

Hachette Livre Hachette Livre S.A. (; simply known as Hachette) is a French publishing, publishing group that was based in Paris. It was founded in 1826 by Louis Hachette as Brédif which later became successively L. Hachette et Compagnie, Librairie Hachette, ...

, Sylvie accused him in a column in ''

Le Monde (; ) is a mass media in France, French daily afternoon list of newspapers in France, newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average print circulation, circulation of 480,000 copies per issue in 2022, including ...

'', that with this sale to a corporation it was "as if the gates of the Gaulish village had been thrown open to the Roman Empire". Uderzo had previously stated in interviews that Asterix would end with his death; however, the terms of the sale to Hachette allowed the company to continue producing Asterix titles indefinitely with or without Uderzo's participation. Uderzo in 2013 sued his daughter and son-in-law for "psychological violence". Sylvie responded with a lawsuit claiming persons unnamed had abused her father's "frailty". Her case was thrown out of court in 2014 and the two reached an amicable settlement. Upon Uderzo's retirement in 2011, Asterix was taken over by

Jean-Yves Ferri Jean-Yves Ferri () (born 20 April 1959) is a French writer, designer, and colourist of comics. On 25 July 2011, he was chosen as the writer for the next installment of the Asterix series created by René Goscinny René Goscinny (; ; 14 Augu ...

(script) and

Didier Conrad Didier Conrad (born 6 May 1959) is a French comics artist and writer. Since 2012, he has been the artist of the popular ''Asterix'' series. Biography Beginnings Didier Conrad was born in Marseille of parents originally from Switzerland. He deve ...

(art). Sylvie owned 40% of Éditions Albert René before selling her parts to Hachette. The publishing group now owns 100%, after the remaining 60%, previously owned by Uderzo and by Goscinny's daughter, were also sold to Hachette Livre. Uderzo's brother, Marcel, was also a cartoonist. Marcel Uderzo worked with his brother Albert for the drawing and coloring of about twelve Asterix albums.

Death

On 24 March 2020, Uderzo died in his sleep at his home in

Neuilly-sur-Seine Neuilly-sur-Seine (; 'Neuilly-on-Seine'), also known simply as Neuilly, is an urban Communes of France, commune in the Hauts-de-Seine Departments of France, department just west of Paris in France. Immediately adjacent to the city, north of the ...

, after suffering a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

, at the age of 92. His son-in-law Bernard de Choisy said the heart attack was not linked to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

, and that Uderzo had felt very tired for several weeks prior to his death.

Awards

* 1985: Awarded the Knight of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

* 1999:

Grand Prix de la ville d'Angoulême The Grand Prix de la ville d'Angoulême is a lifetime achievement award given annually during the Angoulême International Comics Festival to a comics author. Although not a monetary award, it is considered the most prestigious award in Franco-Be ...

, special prize for the millennium * 2004:

Max & Moritz Prize The Max und Moritz Award (German language, German:Max und Moritz-Preis), also known as the Max & Moritz Prize , is a prize for comic books, comic strips, and other similar materials. It has been awarded at each of the biennial International Comi ...

Special Prize for outstanding life's work * 2005: Inducted into the

Eisner Award The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, are awards for creative achievement in American comic books. They are regarded as the most prestigious and significant awards in the comic industry and often referred ...

Hall of Fame, U.S. * 2006: Awarded the Knight of the

Order of the Netherlands Lion The Order of the Netherlands Lion, also known as the Order of the Lion of the Netherlands (, ) is a Dutch honours system, Dutch order of chivalry founded by William I of the Netherlands on 29 September 1815. The Order of the Netherlands Lion wa ...

* 2013: Awarded the Officer of the

According to the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

's Index Translationum, Uderzo is the 10th most often translated French language author (Goscinny being 4th) and the third most often translated French language comics author behind

and

Hergé Georges Prosper Remi (; 22 May 1907 – 3 March 1983), known by the pen name Hergé ( ; ), from the French pronunciation of his reversed initials ''RG'', was a Belgian comic strip artist. He is best known for creating ''The Adventures of T ...

References

External links

*
''Astérix'' official site
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Uderzo, Albert 1927 births 2020 deaths Naturalized citizens of France 20th-century French artists 21st-century French artists 20th-century French writers 21st-century French writers French comics artists French comics writers French humorists People from Marne (department) French people of Italian descent People of Venetian descent People of Tuscan descent Asterix Writers who illustrated their own writing Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame inductees Knights of the Legion of Honour Knights of the Order of the Netherlands Lion Grand Prix de la ville d'Angoulême winners People from Clichy-sous-Bois People with polydactyly Tintin (magazine) people Pilote