Gus Arriola

Vocation

Mexican-American comic strip cartoonist and animator, primarily known for the comic strip Gordo. Arriola was the youngest of nine children. His mother died when he was a baby, and he was raised by an older sister in a Spanish-speaking household. He learned English by reading the Sunday comics. His family moved to Los Angeles, California, when he was eight years old. He first studied art formally in Manual Arts High School in Los Angeles, California. Immediately after high school he spent a year working on Krazy Kat for Screen Gems, then three years animating Tom and Jerry and Lonesome Stranger for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as a "sketch man", before leaving to start his own comic strip. Gordo ran from November 24, 1941 to March 2, 1985 and chronicled the life of Mexican bean farmer Perfecto Salazar "Gordo" Lopez ("Gordo" approximately translating as "Fatso"). Arriola met his wife, Mary Frances, at MGM in 1939. They remained married until his death in Carmel on 2 February 2008. Shortly before his death he received a lifetime achievement award from the Arts Council for Monterey, California. Link to Wikipedia biography