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Mort Drucker, Master of the Mad Caricature, Is Dead at 91
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/09/arts/mort-drucker-dead.html
Mort Drucker, Master of the Mad Caricature, Is Dead at 91
His illustrations of celebrities for Mad magazine’s movie and television satires inspired countless cartoonists. Actors, politicians and others knew they had made it when he drew them.
By J. Hoberman
April 9, 2020, 12:03 p.m. ET
Mort Drucker, a longtime contributor to Mad magazine known for his caricatures of actors, politicians and other celebrities, died on Wednesday at his home in Woodbury, N.Y. He was 91.
His longtime friend, John Reiner, confirmed the death.
Mr. Drucker, who specialized in illustrating Mad’s movie and television satires, inspired several generations of cartoonists. “To me, he’s the guy,” the caricaturist Drew Friedman said. “I used to imitate his work in Mad when I was a kid. I wanted to be Mort Drucker; I even loved his name.”
Mr. Drucker’s facility was best expressed in multi-caricature crowd scenes. His parody of the 1986 Woody Allen film, “Hannah and Her Sisters,” opened with a panel depicting a Thanksgiving dinner that, in addition to most of the movie’s ensemble cast, included caricatures of Mr. Allen’s first wife, Louise Lasser; the film critics Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel; Mayor Ed Koch of New York; and Mad’s mascot, Alfred E. Neuman. His drawing for a 1970 Time magazine cover, “Battle for the Senate,” now in the National Portrait Gallery, featured a pileup of 15 individually characterized political figures, including President Richard M. Nixon and Vice President Spiro T. Agnew. Mad’s takeoff on the MGM retrospective feature “That’s Entertainment,” published in 1975, required Mr. Drucker to caricature more than two dozen stars.
</snip>
Mort Drucker, Master of the Mad Caricature, Is Dead at 91
His illustrations of celebrities for Mad magazine’s movie and television satires inspired countless cartoonists. Actors, politicians and others knew they had made it when he drew them.
By J. Hoberman
April 9, 2020, 12:03 p.m. ET
Mort Drucker, a longtime contributor to Mad magazine known for his caricatures of actors, politicians and other celebrities, died on Wednesday at his home in Woodbury, N.Y. He was 91.
His longtime friend, John Reiner, confirmed the death.
Mr. Drucker, who specialized in illustrating Mad’s movie and television satires, inspired several generations of cartoonists. “To me, he’s the guy,” the caricaturist Drew Friedman said. “I used to imitate his work in Mad when I was a kid. I wanted to be Mort Drucker; I even loved his name.”
Mr. Drucker’s facility was best expressed in multi-caricature crowd scenes. His parody of the 1986 Woody Allen film, “Hannah and Her Sisters,” opened with a panel depicting a Thanksgiving dinner that, in addition to most of the movie’s ensemble cast, included caricatures of Mr. Allen’s first wife, Louise Lasser; the film critics Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel; Mayor Ed Koch of New York; and Mad’s mascot, Alfred E. Neuman. His drawing for a 1970 Time magazine cover, “Battle for the Senate,” now in the National Portrait Gallery, featured a pileup of 15 individually characterized political figures, including President Richard M. Nixon and Vice President Spiro T. Agnew. Mad’s takeoff on the MGM retrospective feature “That’s Entertainment,” published in 1975, required Mr. Drucker to caricature more than two dozen stars.
</snip>
https://www.newsfromme.com/2020/04/09/mort-drucker-r-i-p/
Mort Drucker, R.I.P.
Published Thursday, April 9, 2020 at 7:33 AM
Mort Drucker, whose awesome skills at caricature were the envy of everyone who ever tried to draw a famous face, died last night at the age of 91. I have no details as to the cause of death but I can tell you a few things about Mort…
Mort began drawing comic books in 1947 when Will Eisner, who had seen the young artist's work, recommended him to Bert Whitman who drew the newspaper strip, Debbie Dean. He was an assistant on that strip and several others until he joined the staff of National (now DC) Comics in the early fifties where he was a production artist doing "fixes" and such in the office.
His relationship with the company continued for years, even after he left the staff job and also freelanced drawing stories for other publishers. For DC, he often assisted Owen Fitzgerald, who drew comics like The Adventures of Bob Hope for them and he succeeded Fitzgerald as the artist of that comic. When I met Mort and mentioned I'd worked with Owen, he lit up and told me how much of "learning how to draw" he owed to that man.
</snip>
Mort Drucker, R.I.P.
Published Thursday, April 9, 2020 at 7:33 AM
Mort Drucker, whose awesome skills at caricature were the envy of everyone who ever tried to draw a famous face, died last night at the age of 91. I have no details as to the cause of death but I can tell you a few things about Mort…
Mort began drawing comic books in 1947 when Will Eisner, who had seen the young artist's work, recommended him to Bert Whitman who drew the newspaper strip, Debbie Dean. He was an assistant on that strip and several others until he joined the staff of National (now DC) Comics in the early fifties where he was a production artist doing "fixes" and such in the office.
His relationship with the company continued for years, even after he left the staff job and also freelanced drawing stories for other publishers. For DC, he often assisted Owen Fitzgerald, who drew comics like The Adventures of Bob Hope for them and he succeeded Fitzgerald as the artist of that comic. When I met Mort and mentioned I'd worked with Owen, he lit up and told me how much of "learning how to draw" he owed to that man.
</snip>
Cross Gently, Mort.
36 replies
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= new reply since forum marked as read
Safe travels, and THANK YOU 
Mort Drucker, sir: you will be missed.
I still have the clipping of a Kennedy White House spoof that he illustrated in 1961. After the assassination, I couldn’t bring myself to throw it out.
Sad thing is, in 2020, we are living a spoof.
Bye, Mort.
for American Graffiti and the Mad parody of the same.
Cross gently.
made me what I am today...
My parents thought it was a waste and silly, but didn't try to keep it from me. After all, back then, it was "25 cents. Cheap!"
Gentle crossing, Mort. You kept me laughing.
His caricatures and parodies were peerless. He gave me many, many belly-laughs.
Thanks, Mort!!
