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| Frank
Bellamy was born in 1917 in Northamptonshire, England. He began
illustrating strip cartoons in 1953, drawing "Mickey Mouse
Weekly" and "Swift" before joining "Eagle" in
1957. After working as part of lead artist Frank Hampson's studio team,
he was chosen to take over the "Dan Dare" strip in 1960 when
Hampson quit. Bellamy had never been entirely comfortable at Eagle and
only agreed to illustrate "Dan Dare" for one year. However in
that year he produced superb artwork, and became as associated with the
"Dan Dare" strip as its creator.
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Frank Bellamy was a self-taught artist. He began his artistic career working for a publicity agency in Kettering, where he made paintings for a local cinema. After serving in World War II, he returned to the agency until 1948, when he left for London, becoming a freelance illustrator for several magazines. He created the comic 'Commando Gibbs' for Eagle magazine, marking the start of his career in comics. Often collaborating with writer Clifford Makins, he created a considerable number of comics for Eagle, Mickey and Swift magazines. In 1957, he drew a biography of Winston Churchill, called 'The Happy Warrior'. In 1960, he took over the famous series 'Dan Dare' from its creator, Frank Hampson. During the sixties, he created several comic adaptations of great books. His last important creation, 'Garth', appeared in The Daily Mirror from 1971 until his death in 1976. | |
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In January 1966, Frank Bellamy began work on a strip version of Thunderbirds, the Gerry Anderson T.V. puppet series that has recently enjoyed yet another successful revival on BBC TV. Anderson’s futuristic puppets were incredibly popular in the late 1960s and their exploits were avidly followed by fans in TV Century 21 | |
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