Jules Feiffer obit

Jules Feiffer Dies: Cartoonist, Playwright & ‘Carnal Knowledge’ Screenwriter Was 95

 

He was not on the list.

Jules Feiffer, a Pultizer Prize-winning cartoonist and author who also wrote the screenplay for films, including Carnal Knowledge and Popeye, died Jan. 17 of congestive heart failure at his home in upstate New York. He was 95. His wife, JZ Holden, confirmed his death to the Washington Post.

Feiffer’s long career began at the age of 17 when he became assistant to cartoonist Will Eisner, working with Eisner on his comic strips, including The Spirit. In 1956, he joined The Village Voice as a staff cartoonist where he produced the weekly comic strip “Feiffer” for more than 40 years, until 1997. The comic strip ran in The Village Voice from 1956 until 2000, and was syndicated to more than 100 newspapers.

His entree into the film business came in 1961, with the Oscar-winning animated short Munro, based on his story about a child who is drafted.

He went on to write what became his best-known screenplay for the Mike Nichols-directed Carnal Knowledge in 1971, starring Jack Nicholson and Art Garfunkel. He also penned the screenplay for the Robert Altman-helmed Popeye in 1980.

Also a playwright, Feiffer penned 1967’s Little Murders, Feiffer’s People (1969) and Knock Knock (1976).

Feiffer was the author of novels,1963’s Harry the Rat with Women and 1977’s Ackroyd, as well as several children’s books, including Bark, George; Henry, The Dog with No Tail; A Room with a Zoo; The Daddy Mountain; and A Barrel of Laughs, a Vale of Tears.

He teamed with Disney and writer Andrew Lippa to adapt his book The Man in the Ceiling into a musical. He also illustrated the children’s books The Phantom Tollbooth and The Odious Ogre. His non-fiction includes the 1965 book The Great Comic Book Heroes, the first history of the comic-book superheroes of the late 1930s and early 1940s. He penned his first graphic novel, Tantrum, in 1979. In 2014, he published Kill My Mother, a praised graphic novel and a loving homage to the pulp-inspired films and comic strips of his youth.

Feiffer won the Pulitzer Prize in 1986 for editorial cartooning, and in 2004 he was inducted into the Comic Book Hall of Fame. In 1995, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters and in 2014 he was honored by the Writers Guild of America with a lifetime achievement award.

Writer

Robert Mangiardi, Sara Maraffino, Sophie Cooper, and Ryan Caraway in Hold Me! (2018)

Hold Me!

Short

play

2018

 

David Koechner and Jim Rash in Bernard and Huey (2017)

Bernard and Huey

5.3

writer

2017

 

The Dancer Films

Short

writer

2011

 

I Lost My Bear (2005)

I Lost My Bear

6.4

Short

Writer

2005

 

Bark, George (2003)

Bark, George

6.9

Video

book

2003

 

The Nudnik Show

3.2

TV Series

Writer

1991

 

I Want to Go Home (1989)

I Want to Go Home

5.4

written by

1989

 

Boomtown (1985)

Boomtown

6.1

Short

text

1985

 

Great Performances (1971)

Great Performances

7.9

TV Series

play

teleplay

1985

1 episode

 

Faerie Tale Theatre (1982)

Faerie Tale Theatre

8.3

TV Series

teleplay

1985

1 episode

 

Day to Day Affairs

TV Movie

Writer

1985

 

Comedy Zone

5.3

TV Series

writer

1984

2 episodes

 

Jules Feiffer's Hold Me (1981)

Jules Feiffer's Hold Me

TV Movie

Writer

1981

 

Robin Williams, Shelley Duvall, and Wesley Ivan Hurt in Popeye (1980)

Popeye

5.4

screenplay

1980

 

Conrad Hurtt in Carnal Knowledge (1980)

Carnal Knowledge

Video

writer

1980

 

That Was the Year That Was - 1976

TV Movie

Writer

1976

 

Happy Endings

TV Movie

Writer (segment ": "Kidnapped")

1975

 

Jay David in VD Blues (1972)

VD Blues

TV Special

Writer

1972

 

Oh! Calcutta! (1972)

Oh! Calcutta!

5.0

contributions

1972

 

Mord i det hvite hus

TV Movie

novel

1972

 

Jack Nicholson and Ann-Margret in Carnal Knowledge (1971)

Carnal Knowledge

6.9

written by

1971

 

Little Murders (1971)

Little Murders

6.9

based on the play by: "Little Murders"

written by

1971

 

Shoestring Theatre

TV Series

Writer

1964

1 episode

 

Quest (1961)

Quest

7.2

TV Series

play

1962

1 episode

 

Seth Deitch in Munro (1961)

Munro

6.8

Short

story

1961

 

Another Day, Another Doormat (1959)

Another Day, Another Doormat

5.2

Short

story (uncredited)

1959

 

Actor

Seth Deitch in Munro (1961)

Munro

6.8

Short

Sergeant (voice, uncredited)

1961

 

Production Designer

Foofle's Train Ride

5.6

Short

Production Designer

1959

 

The Tale of a Dog (1959)

The Tale of a Dog

Short

Production Designer

1959

 

Art Department

The Naked Brothers Band (2007)

The Naked Brothers Band

3.5

TV Series

drawings: provided by

2008

1 episode

 

Another Day, Another Doormat (1959)

Another Day, Another Doormat

5.2

Short

storyboard artist

1959

 

Animation Department

Foofle's Train Ride

5.6

Short

layout artist (uncredited)

1959

 

The Tale of a Dog (1959)

The Tale of a Dog

Short

layout artist (uncredited)

1959

 

Thanks

Bird of Steel!

special thanks

Completed

 

Robert Mangiardi, Sara Maraffino, Sophie Cooper, and Ryan Caraway in Hold Me! (2018)

Hold Me!

Short

the producers wish to thank

2018

 

Ralph Macchio, Halley Feiffer, Mamie Gummer, Ryan Spahn, Michael Urie, Ashlie Atkinson, and Michael Chernus in He's Way More Famous Than You (2013)

He's Way More Famous Than You

3.7

special thanks

2013

 

Bark, George (2003)

Bark, George

6.9

Video

special thanks

2003

 

Self

Dad Strangelove

Self

In Production

 

Hand Drawn Life - The History and Influence of Newspaper Comic Strips

Video

Self

2019

 

To Live & Dialogue in LA

TV Series

Self

2019

1 episode

 

Jules Feiffer in Little Murders: Random Acts of Violence with Jules Feiffer (2018)

Little Murders: Random Acts of Violence with Jules Feiffer

Short

Self

2018

 

American Masters (1985)

American Masters

8.2

TV Series

Self - Writer

Cartoonist

Self

1996–2017

3 episodes

 

Maya Angelou And Still I Rise (2016)

Maya Angelou And Still I Rise

7.9

Self - Writer

Cartoonist

2016

 

The Legacy Project (2011)

The Legacy Project

TV Series

Self

2014

1 episode

 

Superheroes: A Never-Ending Battle (2013)

Superheroes: A Never-Ending Battle

8.1

TV Mini Series

Self - Artist & Writer

2013

2 episodes

 

Herblock: The Black & the White (2013)

Herblock: The Black & the White

7.5

Self

2013

 

The Phantom Tollbooth: Beyond Expectations

8.1

2012

 

A Broadway Lullaby

Short

Self

2012

 

Far Out Isn't Far Enough: The Tomi Ungerer Story (2012)

Far Out Isn't Far Enough: The Tomi Ungerer Story

7.8

Self

2012

 

Cartoon College (2012)

Cartoon College

7.6

Self

2012

 

Alec Baldwin and Robert Osborne in TCM Guest Programmer (2005)

TCM Guest Programmer

7.5

TV Series

Self - Special Guest

2012

1 episode

 

Jane Pauley in CBS News Sunday Morning with Jane Pauley (1979)

CBS News Sunday Morning with Jane Pauley

7.8

TV Series

Self - Guest

2011

1 episode

 

Theater Talk (1996)

Theater Talk

7.8

TV Series

Self - Guest

2010

1 episode

 

The Naked Brothers Band (2007)

The Naked Brothers Band

3.5

TV Series

Self

2008

1 episode

 

The Jewish Americans (2008)

The Jewish Americans

7.6

TV Mini Series

Self

2008

2 episodes

 

Will Eisner: Portrait of a Sequential Artist (2007)

Will Eisner: Portrait of a Sequential Artist

7.8

Self

2007

 

Horizon

TV Series

Self - Cartoonist

2006

1 episode

 

The First Amendment Project: No Joking

7.9

TV Movie

Self

2004

 

Funny Already: A History of Jewish Comedy

4.5

TV Movie

Self

2004

 

God's Will (2000)

God's Will

Self

2000

 

The Fifties (1997)

The Fifties

8.2

TV Mini Series

Self - Cartoonist

1997

1 episode

 

The Line King: The Al Hirschfeld Story (1996)

The Line King: The Al Hirschfeld Story

7.3

Self

1996

 

Conan O'Brien in Late Night with Conan O'Brien (1993)

Late Night with Conan O'Brien

8.2

TV Series

Self - Guest

1994

1 episode

 

Hugh Hefner: Once Upon a Time (1992)

Hugh Hefner: Once Upon a Time

6.7

Self

1992

 

Reputations

TV Series

Self

1982

1 episode

 

That Was the Year That Was - 1976

TV Movie

Self

1976

 

The Larry Solway Show (1974)

The Larry Solway Show

TV Series

Self

1976

1 episode

 

David Frost in The David Frost Show (1969)

The David Frost Show

7.2

TV Series

Self

1971

1 episode

 

Merv Griffin in The Merv Griffin Show (1962)

The Merv Griffin Show

6.6

TV Series

Self - cartoonist-playwright

1970

1 episode

 

The Young Set

TV Series

Self

1965

1 episode

 

Un alma pura (1965)

Un alma pura

6.9

Self

1965

 

ABC News Close-Up (1960)

ABC News Close-Up

6.4

TV Series

Self

1962

1 episode

 

Archive Footage

Damien Duvot in Les Chroniques du Mea (2012)

Les Chroniques du Mea

6.7

TV Series

Self (archive footage)

2014

1 episode