Bil Keane

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William Aloysius Keane (October 5, 1922 – November 8, 2011) better known as Bil (or, earlier, Bill) Keane [1] was an American cartoonist. His most famous work, The Family Circus debuted in 1960 and was syndicated in over 1,500 newspapers.

Keane was a self-taught artist, and his humour was evident from an early age; he said (probably tongue-in-cheek) that when asked ‘who cracked the Liberty Bell?’ he reposted, ‘not me!’[2] In a 1995 interview with The Associated Press, he called the comics ‘the last frontier of good, wholesome family humor and entertainment….’[3] and his good-natured humor obviously resonated well with a readership who supported him for over 50 years.

Keane married Thelma ‘Thel’ Carne, an Australian in 1948. They lived first in Rosalyn, Pennsylvania, later moving to a home near Phoenix, Arizona. The Keanes eventually had five children, and were married until Thelma’s death in 2008. Keane credited his family as being the inspiration for The Family Circus . Jeff Keane began working on the cartoon with his father in 1981 and has said that he will continue.

Bil Keane died at his home at the age of 89.

## Notes[edit]

1. ↑ Kean’s parents referred to him as ‘Bill’, but, he said, for drawing on his bedroom walls, they knocked the ‘L’ out of him
2. ↑ http://www.familycircus.com/ Life And Times Of Bil What'sisname
3. ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/10/business/media/bil-keane-creator-of-the-family-circus-dies-at-89.html