Charles M. Schulz

Lore & Background

Charles Monroe Schulz was born on November 26, 1922, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and grew up in Saint Paul. He was the only child of a barber and a housewife, and his uncle called him "Sparky" after a horse in the comic strip Barney Google. Schulz developed an interest in drawing early, and in 1937 he drew a picture of his family dog Spike that appeared in Ripley's Believe It or Not!. After graduating high school, he took a correspondence course from Art Instruction Schools.

Schulz was drafted into the United States Army in November 1942 and served as a staff sergeant with the 20th Armored Division in Europe during World War II. After the war, he returned to Minnesota and worked at Art Instruction, grading students' work. In 1947, his weekly series of one-panel jokes called Li'l Folks began publication in the St. Paul Pioneer Press. In 1950, he redeveloped Li'l Folks as a four-panel comic strip and submitted it to United Features Syndicate, who renamed it Peanuts and began publishing that October.

Schulz relocated to Northern California with his family in 1958. Beginning with A Charlie Brown Christmas in 1965, he helped write several animated television specials and four animated films based on his characters. He continued drawing Peanuts until his death in 2000.

Reader's Guide

Charles M. Schulz created Peanuts, one of the most popular and influential comic strips in history. At its height, Peanuts was published daily in 2,600 papers in 75 countries, in 21 languages. Over nearly 50 years, Schulz drew 17,897 published Peanuts strips, which along with merchandise and product endorsements produced revenues of more than $1 billion per year. Schulz drew much from his own life for the strip: Charlie Brown was named after a co-worker, the Little Red-Haired Girl was inspired by an accountant who turned down his marriage proposal, and Snoopy's brother Spike was influenced by the years the Schulz family lived in Needles, California. Schulz was inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame in 1983 and the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1996, and was posthumously inducted into the United States Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 2007. He influenced cartoonists including Jim Davis, Murray Ball, Bill Watterson, Matt Groening, and Dav Pilkey.

Did You Know?

• Schulz's uncle called him 'Sparky' after the horse Spark Plug in the comic strip Barney Google.
• Schulz served as a staff sergeant in the U.S. Army during World War II and received the Combat Infantryman Badge.
• The first animated TV special based on Peanuts, A Charlie Brown Christmas, aired in December 1965 and won an Emmy award.
• Schulz took only one vacation during the entire run of Peanuts, a five-week break in late 1997.

Notable Quotes (Wikiquote)

"Charles Monroe Schulz (November 26, 1922 – February 12, 2000) was an American cartoonist, the creator of the comic strip Peanuts." — Charles M. Schulz "See also:PeanutsRace for Your Life, Charlie Brown." — Charles M. Schulz "It seems beyond the comprehension of people that someone can be born to draw comic strips, but I think I was. My ambition from earliest memory was to produce a daily comic strip." — Charles M. Schulz "A cartoonist is someone who has to draw the same thing day after day without repeating himself." — Charles M. Schulz