Art Clokey | |
|---|---|
 Clokey in 1967 | |
| Born | Arthur Charles Farrington October 12, 1921 Detroit, Michigan, U.S. |
| Died | January 8, 2010 (aged 88) Los Osos, California, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Pomona College Miami University University of Southern California The Webb Schools |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1953–1995 |
| Notable work | Creator of Gumby and Davey and Goliath |
| Spouses | Ruth Clokey
(m. 1948; div. 1966)Gloria Clokey
(m. 1976; died 1998) |
| Children | 2 |
| Family | Joseph W. Clokey (father) |
| Awards | Inkpot Award (2006)[1] |
Arthur Clokey (born Arthur Charles Farrington; October 12, 1921 – January 8, 2010) was an American animator, director, producer, screenwriter and voice actor, he was pioneer in the popularization of stop-motion clay animation, best known as the creator of the character Gumby and the original voice of Gumby's sidekick, Pokey. Clokey's career began in 1953 with a film experiment called Gumbasia, which was influenced by his professor, Slavko Vorkapich, at the University of Southern California.[2][3][4][5] Clokey and his wife Ruth subsequently came up with the clay character Gumby and his horse Pokey, who first appeared in the Howdy Doody Show and later got their own series The Adventures of Gumby, from which they became a familiar presence on American television. The characters enjoyed a renewal of interest in the 1980s when American actor and comedian Eddie Murphy parodied Gumby in a skit on Saturday Night Live.
Clokey's second-most famous production is the duo of Davey and Goliath, funded by the Lutheran Church in America (now the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America).[6]
Clokey founded the company Premavision (which has manufacturing subsidiary, Prema Toy Company) around his Gumby and Pokey franchise.
- ^ Inkpot Award
- ^ Tim Lawson; Alisa Persons, eds. (2004). The magic behind the voices. University Press of Mississippi. p. 120. ISBN 978-1-57806-696-4.
- ^ TV personalities: biographical sketch book: Volume 3. St. Louis, Mo. : TV Personalities. 1957. OCLC 2470684.
- ^ "Hero Complex". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ "Art Clokey dies at 88; creator of Gumby". Los Angeles Times. January 9, 2010.
- ^ "Who Are Davey and Goliath?". Daveyandgoliath.org. Archived from the original on 2012-08-29. Retrieved 2011-10-11.