Casper the Friendly Ghost

This article is about the character. For the theatrical shorts, see Casper the Friendly Ghost filmography. For the feature-length films, see Casper the Friendly Ghost in film.

Casper the Friendly Ghost
First appearance
Created bySeymour Reit
Joe Oriolo[1][2]
Vincent E. Valentine II[3]
Adapted byHarvey Comics
Voiced bySee voices actors
In-universe information
RaceGhost (deceased human in some versions)
GenderMale
TitleThe Friendly Ghost
FamilyThe Ghostly Trio (uncles)

Casper the Friendly Ghost is a fictional character who serves as the protagonist of the Famous Studios theatrical animated cartoon series of the same name. He is a translucent ghost who is pleasant and personable,[4] but often criticized by his three wicked uncles, the Ghostly Trio.

The character was featured in 55 theatrical cartoons titled The Friendly Ghost from 1945 to 1959.[5] The character has been featured in comic books published by Harvey Comics since 1952,[6] and Harvey purchased the character outright in 1959. Casper became one of Harvey's most popular characters, headlining several comic book titles.

Following Harvey's purchase of the character, he appeared in five television series: Matty's Funday Funnies (1959–1961), The New Casper Cartoon Show (1963–1970), Casper and the Angels (1979), The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper (1996–1998) and Casper's Scare School (2009–2012).[7] The character made his theatrical film debut in a live-action adaptation of the series by Universal Pictures: Casper (1995), to where he became the first computer-generated character to star in a film.[8] He would later appear in four direct-to-video and made-for-TV follow-up films.

  1. ^ "Cartoonist Joseph D. Oriolo, Creator Of Casper The Ghost". Chicago Tribune. December 27, 1985. Retrieved March 4, 2016.
  2. ^ "Man Who Produced First 'Casper' Ghost Film Dies". Articles.latimes.com. December 27, 1985. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
  3. ^ "Creator of "Casper the Ghost" and Jungle Land". December 9, 2017.
  4. ^ Nash, Eric P. (December 17, 2001). "Seymour V. Reit, 83, a Creator of Casper the Friendly Ghost". The New York Times. Retrieved August 21, 2010.
  5. ^ Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 63–64. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved June 6, 2020.
  6. ^ Schelly, William (2013). American Comic Book Chronicles: The 1950s. TwoMorrows Publishing. p. 61. ISBN 9781605490540.
  7. ^ Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 188–191. ISBN 978-1476665993.
  8. ^ "12 Movies That Revolutionized Visual Effects". November 20, 2014.