From collection Member List
Chester Gould (Oklahoma State) knew he wanted to be a cartoonist from an early age. After attending Oklahoma A&M College (now Oklahoma State University) where he was a member of Alpha-Eta Zeta, Gould moved to Chicago. He began drawing various cartoons for the Chicago Evening American and the Chicago Daily News, as well as submitting cartoon ideas to the Chicago Tribune. One of those submissions led to “Dick Tracy” in 1931, a strip about a hardboiled, strong-jawed, law-and-order detective whose ethos was that crime doesn’t pay.
“Dick Tracy” was a ground-breaking comic, the first to feature serial storylines in a realistic genre with gritty action and violence. Gould took classes in forensics and studied law enforcement to make the stories more realistic. The comic strip ran for 46 years in newspapers all throughout America and in over 25 foreign papers. Dick Tracy became perhaps the most famous detective since Sherlock Holmes, the blueprint for the noire detective in a trench coat and felt hat.
Chester Gould received the National Cartoonists Society’s Reuben Award in 1959 and 1977, and Comic-Con International’s Inkpot Award in 1978. He also received a Special Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers Guild of America in 1980. In 1974, he was honored by Lambda Chi Alpha with the Order of Achievement Award.
Gould died in Woodstock, Illinois on May 11, 1985 at the age of 84.
“Dick Tracy” was a ground-breaking comic, the first to feature serial storylines in a realistic genre with gritty action and violence. Gould took classes in forensics and studied law enforcement to make the stories more realistic. The comic strip ran for 46 years in newspapers all throughout America and in over 25 foreign papers. Dick Tracy became perhaps the most famous detective since Sherlock Holmes, the blueprint for the noire detective in a trench coat and felt hat.
Chester Gould received the National Cartoonists Society’s Reuben Award in 1959 and 1977, and Comic-Con International’s Inkpot Award in 1978. He also received a Special Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers Guild of America in 1980. In 1974, he was honored by Lambda Chi Alpha with the Order of Achievement Award.
Gould died in Woodstock, Illinois on May 11, 1985 at the age of 84.
