René Goscinny

French comic book writer (1926–1977)

René Goscinny

Goscinny in 1971

Born| (1926-08-14)14 August 1926
Paris, France
Died| 5 November 1977(1977-11-05) (aged 51)
Paris, France
Nationality| French
Area(s)| Cartoonist, Writer, Editor
Pseudonym(s)| d'Agostini, Stanislas

Notable works

* Astérix
* Iznogoud
* Le Petit Nicolas
* Lucky Luke
* Oumpah-pah

Collaborators|

* Albert Uderzo
* Jean-Jacques Sempé
* Morris
* Marcel Gotlib
* Jean Tabary

Awards| Full list
Spouse(s)|

Gilberte Pollaro-Millo

(m. 1967)​

Children| 1

René Goscinny (French: [ʁəne ɡɔsini], Polish: [ɡɔɕˈt͡ɕinnɨ] ⓘ; 14 August 1926 – 5 November 1977) was a French comic editor and writer, who created the Astérix comic book series with illustrator Albert Uderzo. He was raised primarily in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he attended French schools, and he lived in the United States for a short period of time. There he met Belgian cartoonist Morris. After his return to France, they collaborated for more than 20 years on the comic series Lucky Luke (in what was considered the series' golden age).[1]

He wrote Iznogoud with Jean Tabary. Goscinny also wrote a series of children's books known as Le Petit Nicolas (Little Nicolas) illustrated by Jean-Jacques Sempé.

## Early life

[edit]

Goscinny was born in Paris in 1926, to Jewish immigrants from Poland.[2] His parents were Stanisław Simkha Gościnny, a chemical engineer from Warsaw, and Anna (Hanna) Bereśniak-Gościnna from Chodorków (modern-day Khodorkiv [uk]), a small village near Kyiv in Ukraine.[3][full citation needed] Goscinny's maternal grandfather, Abraham Lazare Berezniak, founded a printing company.[4] Claude, Goscinny's older brother, was six years older, born on 10 December 1920.

Stanisław and Anna had met in Paris and married in 1919. When René was two, the Gościnnys moved to Buenos Aires, Argentina, because his father had been hired as a chemical engineer there. René had a happy childhood in Buenos Aires and studied in French-language schools there. He was often the "class clown", probably to compensate for a natural shyness. He started drawing very early on, inspired by the illustrated stories which he enjoyed reading.

In December 1943, the year after Goscinny graduated from lycée or high school, his father died of a cerebral hemorrhage (stroke). The youth had to go to work. The next year, he got his first job as an assistant accountant in a tyre recovery factory. After being laid off the following year, Goscinny became a junior illustrator in an advertising agency.[5]

Goscinny, along with his mother, emigrated from Argentina and immigrated to New York, United States in 1945 to join her brother, Boris. To avoid service in the United States Armed Forces[citation needed] he travelled to France to join the French Army in 1946. He served at Aubagne in the 141st Alpine Infantry Battalion. Promoted to senior corporal, he became the appointed artist of the regiment and drew illustrations and posters for the army.

## First works

[edit]

The following year, Goscinny worked on an illustrated version of the Balzac novella The Girl with the Golden Eyes.[6] In April of that year he returned to New York.

There he went through the most difficult period of his life. For a while, Goscinny was jobless, alone, and living in poverty. By 1948, though, he had begun working in a small studio, where he became friends with future MAD Magazine contributors Will Elder, Jack Davis, and Harvey Kurtzman.[5] Goscinny became art director at Kunen Publishers, where he wrote four books for children.

Around this time he met two Belgian comic artists, Joseph Gillain, better known as Jijé, and Maurice de Bevere, also known as Morris. Morris lived in the US for six years, having already started his cartoon series Lucky Luke. (He and Goscinny collaborated on this, with Goscinny writing it from 1955 until his death in 1977, a period described as its golden age).[5]

Georges Troisfontaines, chief of the World Press agency, convinced Goscinny to return to France in 1951 in order to work for his agency as the head of the Paris office. There he met Albert Uderzo, with whom he started a longtime collaboration.[5][7] They started out with some work for Bonnes Soirées, a women's magazine for which Goscinny wrote Sylvie. Goscinny and Uderzo also launched the series Jehan Pistolet and Luc Junior, in the magazine La Libre Junior.

In 1955, Goscinny, together with Uderzo, Jean-Michel Charlier, and Jean Hébrad, founded the syndicate Edipress/Edifrance. The syndicate launched publications such as Clairon for the factory union and Pistolin for a chocolate company. Goscinny and Uderzo cooperated on the series Bill Blanchart in Jeannot, Pistolet in Pistolin, and Benjamin et Benjamine in the magazine of the same name. Under the pseudonym Agostini, Goscinny wrote Le Petit Nicolas for Jean-Jacques Sempé in Le Moustique. It was later published in Sud-Ouest and Pilote magazines.

In 1956, Goscinny began a collaboration with Tintin magazine. He wrote some short stories for Jo Angenot and Albert Weinberg, and worked on Signor Spaghetti with Dino Attanasio, Monsieur Tric with Bob de Moor, Prudence Petitpas with Maurice Maréchal, Globul le Martien and Alphonse with Tibet, Strapontin with Berck and Modeste et Pompon with André Franquin. An early creation with Uderzo, Oumpah-pah, was also adapted for serial publication in Tintin from 1958 to 1962.[8] In addition, Goscinny appeared in the magazines Paris-Flirt (Lili Manequin with Will) and Vaillant (Boniface et Anatole with Jordom, Pipsi with Godard).

## Pilote and Astérix (1959)

[edit]

In 1959, the Édifrance/Édipresse syndicate started the Franco-Belgian comics magazine Pilote.[9] Goscinny became one of the most productive writers for the magazine. In the magazine's first issue, he launched Astérix, with Uderzo. The series was an instant hit and remains popular worldwide. Goscinny also restarted the series Le Petit Nicolas and Jehan Pistolet, now called Jehan Soupolet. Goscinny also began Jacquot le Mousse and Tromblon et Bottaclou with Godard.

The magazine was bought by Georges Dargaud in 1960, and Goscinny became editor-in-chief. He also began new series like Les Divagations de Monsieur Sait-Tout (with Martial), La Potachologie Illustrée (with Cabu), Les Dingodossiers (with Gotlib) and La Forêt de Chênebeau (with Mic Delinx). With Tabary, he launched Calife Haroun El Poussah in Record, a series that was later continued in Pilote as Iznogoud. With Raymond Macherot he created Pantoufle for Spirou.

## Family

[edit]

Goscinny married Gilberte Pollaro-Millo in 1967. In 1968, their daughter Anne Goscinny was born. She also became an author.

Anne Goscinny, the daughter of René Goscinny, co-wrote the screenplay for Little Nicholas: Happy As Can Be, 2022 animation film with Michel Fessler and Massoubre.[10]

## Death

[edit]

Goscinny's tombstone in Nice

Goscinny died at 51, in Paris of a heart attack on 5 November 1977, during a routine stress test at his doctor's office.[11][12] He was buried in the Jewish Cemetery in Nice. In accordance with his will, most of his money was transferred to the chief rabbinate of France.

Goscinny's death occurred part-way through the writing of Asterix in Belgium (published in 1979, two years after his death). As a homage to Goscinny, Uderzo drew darkened skies and rain into the comic. The last panel on page 32 and all but the last panel on page 33 were drawn with grey skies and rain to mark the point at which Goscinny died. Most of the remaining panels in the book were drawn with leaden grey skies, but none have rain. There is a further tribute at the end of the book: near the lower left corner of the final panel, Uderzo drew a rabbit sadly looking over its shoulders towards Goscinny's signature. Regrettably, as printed (at least in the German edition) the outlines are too thick, even at 10X magnification, to make clear what the rabbit is doing.

After Goscinny's death, Uderzo began to write Asterix himself and continued the series, although at a much slower pace, until passing the series over in 2011 to writer Jean-Yves Ferri and illustrator Didier Conrad.[13] Tabary similarly began to write Iznogoud himself, whereas Morris continued Lucky Luke with various other writers.

As a further tribute to Goscinny, Uderzo gave his late colleague's likeness to the Jewish character Saul ben Ephishul (Saul Nizahle in the German edition) in the 1981 album L'Odyssée d'Astérix ("Asterix and the Black Gold"), which is dedicated to Goscinny's memory.

## Awards and honors

[edit]

* 1974: Adamson Award for best international comic strip artist, Sweden
* 2005: Inducted in the Will Eisner Hall of Fame as a Judges' choice, U.S.

Since 1996, the René Goscinny Award is presented at the yearly Angoulême International Comics Festival in France as an encouragement for young comic writers.

According to UNESCO's Index Translationum, Goscinny, as of August 2017, was the 20th most-translated author, with 2,200 translations of his work.[14]

On 23 January 2020, a life-sized bronze statue of Goscinny was unveiled near his former home in Paris. It was the first public statue in Paris dedicated to a comic book author.[15]

## Filmography

[edit]

Year  | Title  | Role  | Notes

|
|
|

1968 | Asterix and Cleopatra | Commentator | Voice, Uncredited
1978 | La Ballade des Dalton | Jolly Jumper, Lucky Luke's horse | Voice, (final film role)

## Studios Idéfix

[edit]

Studios Idéfix

As seen in The Twelve Tasks of Asterix.

Founded| 1st April, 1974
Founders| René Goscinny
Georges Dargaud
Albert Uderzo
Morris
Defunct| 1st April, 1978
Fate| Closed due to the death of Goscinny

Studios Idéfix was an animation studio founded on April 1st, 1974 by Goscinny, Uderzo and  Morris.

Its logo, designed by Uderzo, is a parody of MGM's logo, with Dogmatix (known in French as Idéfix) instead of Leo and a banner reading "Delirant Isti Romanii", instead of "Arts Gratia Arts".

### History

[edit]

In the fall of 1973, Goscinny, Uderzo, Morris and their publisher Georges Dargaud joined forces to create their own animation studio, the Idéfix studios.[16] At the time, launching the creation of a cartoon feature film in France was complex,[16] considering that France no longer had a major animation studio ever since the closure in 1952 of Les Gémeaux, ruined by the project of The Shepherdess and the Chimney Sweep.

Prior to Idéfix, the works of the founders were animated and adapted to films by  Belvision Studios, based at Brussels in Belgium. As the founders themselves said,

> Goscinny and I were very unhappy watching the previous films, even if the public had followed them. The first two films were not a claim to fame for us. And we had to go through the premieres[dubious - [[Talk:René Goscinny#I guess it's a mistranslation, "premieres" is wrong and what's meant is "the first [2 movies]". See talk-page. |discuss]]] several times… By dint of seeing these flaws again and again, which we felt more and more because we knew them better, they had become enormous! For this one, we can avoid this kind of thing. Goscinny and I are doing the storyboarding and we hope to oversee everything. Because this time the cartoon will be produced in Paris, by a studio that we created ourselves. We will be both authors and directors, we will work really closely with the animators. If we're embarking on this adventure, it's because we've pulled out all the stops!

> — Albert Uderzo

[citation needed]

> It’s an old childhood dream that we had with Albert Uderzo, who actually started out in cartoons. It’s the culmination of ten years of work, because we started making cartoons in other studios. It took ten years before we could have our own studios and make the films the way we wanted them. We did it, I must say, thanks to Asterix, who is a miracle character and who is our star, and who allowed us in many ways to realize this dream.

> — René Goscinny

[citation needed]

René Goscinny called Henri Gruel to constitute the technical and artistic teams of the Idéfix studios. The latter directed several animated short films and was responsible for the sound effects of Asterix the Gaul and Asterix and Cleopatra, as well as the two productions by Pierre Tchernia scripted by Goscinny, Le Viager and Les Gaspards. Gruel gets Goscinny to share the artistic direction of the studios with Pierre Watrin, whom he considers to be an excellent designer, one of Paul Grimault's best former animators. Over several months, Gruel and Watrin contacted former artists and animators, as well as promising young artists. Most of Paul Grimault's former animators then worked in small cartoon structures, and would be interested in the idea of working again in a real studio. However, the search for Pierre Watrin and Henri Gruel ultimately proved difficult, most of the former employees of the Les Gémeaux studios having converted to illustration and advertising. Talent was lacking and, at Goscinny's request, Henri Gruel sent his friend Serge Caillet, production director on live-action films, to the Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry to demand the opening of a animated cinema section to supply the studios with young artists, who thus offer employment to students as soon as they leave school. Eventually, they managed to produce their first feature film, The Twelve Tasks of Asterix, with Halas and Batchelor and Dargaud.[citation needed]

However, in 1977, during the production of their second (and final) production, Goscinny died of a sudden heart attack. So, after the release of their second feature,  The Ballad of the Daltons, a Lucky Luke feature, the studio ceased operations and closed shop permanently.[citation needed]

### Films Produced

[edit]

Studio Idéfix produced only two feature films, namely,
The Twelve Tasks of Asterix (1976)
The Ballad of the Daltons (1978)

## Bibliography

[edit]

Series  | Years  | Magazine  | Albums  | Editor  | Artist

|
|
|
|
|

Lucky Luke[b] | 1955–19770 | Spirou and Pilote | 38  | Dupuis and Dargaud0 | Morris
Modeste et Pompon0[a][b] | 1955–1958  | Tintin | 02  | Lombard | André Franquin
Prudence Petitpas | 1957–1959  | Tintin |  | Lombard  | Maurice Maréchal0
Signor Spaghetti | 1957–1965  | Tintin | 15  | Lombard  | Dino Attanasio
Oumpah-pah | 1958–1962  | Tintin | 03  | Lombard  | Albert Uderzo
Strapontin | 1958–1964  | Tintin | 04  | Lombard  | Berck
Astérix[b] | 1959–1977  | Pilote | 24  | Dargaud  | Albert Uderzo
Le Petit Nicolas | 1959–1965  | Pilote | 05  | Denoël  | Sempé
Iznogoud[b] | 1962–1977  | Record and Pilote0 | 14  | Dargaud  | Jean Tabary
Les Dingodossiers | 1965–1967  | Pilote | 03  | Dargaud  | Gotlib

* a.  ^ As part of a writers' team coming up with gags.
* b.  ^ The series Lucky Luke, Modeste et Pompon, Asterix and Iznogoud were continued by other writers after Goscinny's death.

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ Annessa Ann Babic (11 December 2013). Comics as History, Comics as Literature: Roles of the Comic Book in Scholarship, Society, and Entertainment. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. pp. 53–. ISBN 978-1-61147-557-9.
2. ^ Garcia, Laure. "Uderzo, le dernier Gaulois". Le Nouvel Observateur (in French).
3. ^ According to Yeruham Eniss, the village had a soap factory, and many Jews of nearby Chodorków had jobs selling and trading in soap. A census made in the late 1930s counted 3670 Jewish families in Chodorków before World War II (ShtetLinks website: alternate spellings include Chortkow and Khodorkiv)
4. ^ "The wild adventures of René Goscinny, Jewish inventor of Asterix and Obelix". The Times of Israel.
5. ^ a b c d Lambiek Comiclopedia. "René Goscinny".
6. ^ Honoré de Balzac, La fille aux yeux d'or, Paris : Éditions du livre français, collection "Les classiques du XIXe", 1946.
7. ^ Lagardère. "Release of the 33rd Asterix volume".
8. ^ Asterix International!. "Albert Uderzo".
9. ^ BDoubliées. "Pilote année 1959" (in French).
10. ^ Kay2022-12-09T11:19:00+00:00, Jeremy. "Annecy winner 'Little Nicholas: Happy As Can Be' scores Buffalo 8 US deal (exclusive)". Screen. Retrieved 13 December 2022.`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
11. ^ "Le gag raté de Goscinny : mourir d'un arrêt du cœur chez son cardiologue". Sciences et Avenir (in French). Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
12. ^ "Rene Goscinny Dies In Paris; Created Noted Comic Strip". The New York Times. 7 November 1977. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 27 July 2023.
13. ^ Iovene, Franck. "Italy beckons for Gaul comic heros Asterix and Obelix". www.timesofisrael.com.
14. ^ UNESCO Statistics. "Index Translationum - "TOP 50" Author". Official website of UNESCO. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Retrieved 12 August 2017.
15. ^ "By Toutatis! France unveils statue to Asterix creator". France24.com. AFP. 23 January 2020. Retrieved 27 January 2020.
16. ^ a b Goscinny and Cinema 2017, p. 129 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFGoscinny_and_Cinema_2017 (help).

## References

[edit]

* Goscinny publications in Pilote, Spirou, French Tintin and Belgian Tintin BDoubliées (in French)
* Goscinny albums Bedetheque (in French)

## External links

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to René Goscinny.

* Goscinny official site (in French)
* Astérix official site
* On Dupuis.com
* Goscinny biography on Asterix International!
* Goscinny biography on Lambiek Comiclopedia
* Daughter Ann lighting Hanuka candles with family.
* René Goscinny at IMDb

* v
* t
* e

Asterix

Comic books|

| Goscinny and Uderzo|

* Asterix the Gaul
* The Golden Sickle
* The Goths
* The Gladiator
* The Banquet
* Cleopatra
* The Big Fight
* In Britain
* The Normans
* The Legionary
* The Chieftain's Shield
* Olympic Games
* The Cauldron
* In Spain
* The Roman Agent
* In Switzerland
* The Mansions of the Gods
* The Laurel Wreath
* The Soothsayer
* In Corsica
* Caesar's Gift
* The Great Crossing
* Obelix and Co.
* In Belgium

|

Uderzo alone|

* The Great Divide
* The Black Gold
* Asterix and Son
* The Magic Carpet
* The Secret Weapon
* Asterix and Obelix All at Sea
* The Actress
* The Falling Sky

Ferri and Conrad|

* The Picts
* The Missing Scroll
* The Chariot Race
* The Chieftain's Daughter
* The Griffin

Fabcaro and Conrad|

* The White Iris

Other books|

* Asterix Conquers Rome
* The Class Act
* Asterix and Obelix's Birthday: The Golden Book
* Astérix et ses Amis
* How Obelix Fell into the Magic Potion When He Was a Little Boy

Films|

| Animated|

* Asterix the Gaul (1967)
* Asterix and the Golden Sickle (cancelled)
* Asterix and Cleopatra (1968)
* The Twelve Tasks of Asterix (1976)
* Asterix Versus Caesar (1985)
* Asterix in Britain (1986)
* Asterix and the Big Fight (1989)
* Asterix Conquers America (1994)
* Asterix and the Vikings (2006)
* The Mansions of the Gods (2014)
* The Secret of the Magic Potion (2018)

|

Live-action|

* Asterix and Obelix vs. Caesar (1999)
* Mission Cleopatra (2002)
* Asterix at the Olympic Games (2008)
* God Save Britannia (2012)
* The Middle Kingdom (2023)

Video games|

* Asterix (1983)
* Obelix (1984)
* Asterix and the Magic Cauldron (1986)
* Asterix and the Magic Carpet
* Asterix (1991)
* Asterix (1992, arcade)
* Asterix (1993)
* The Great Rescue
* The Power of the Gods
* Asterix & Obelix
* Asterix & Obelix Take On Caesar
* Mega Madness
* Asterix & Obelix XXL
* XXL 2: Mission: Las Vegum
* XXL 2: Mission: Wifix
* Asterix at the Olympic Games
* XXL 3: The Crystal Menhir

Characters|

* Asterix
* Obelix
* Dogmatix

Related articles|

* Parc Astérix
* English translations of Asterix
* Asterix Omnibus (book collection)
* Oumpah-pah le Peau-Rouge

* v
* t
* e

Honorary César

1976–2000|

* Ingrid Bergman (1976)
* Diana Ross (1976)
* Henri Langlois (1977)
* Jacques Tati (1977)
* Robert Dorfmann (1978)
* René Goscinny (1978)
* Marcel Carné (1979)
* Charles Vanel (1979)
* Walt Disney (1979)
* Pierre Braunberger (1980)
* Louis de Funès (1980)
* Kirk Douglas (1980)
* Marcel Pagnol (1981)
* Alain Resnais (1981)
* Georges Dancigers (1982)
* Alexandre Mnouchkine (1982)
* Jean Nény (1982)
* Andrzej Wajda (1982)
* Raimu (1983)
* René Clément (1984)
* Georges de Beauregard (1984)
* Edwige Feuillère (1984)
* Christian-Jaque (1985)
* Danielle Darrieux (1985)
* Christine Gouze-Rénal (1985)
* Alain Poiré (1985)
* Maurice Jarre (1986)
* Bette Davis (1986)
* Jean Delannoy (1986)
* René Ferracci (1986)
* Claude Lanzmann (1986)
* Jean-Luc Godard (1987)
* Serge Silberman (1988)
* Bernard Blier (1989)
* Paul Grimault (1989)
* Gérard Philipe (1990)
* Jean-Pierre Aumont (1991)
* Sophia Loren (1991)
* Michèle Morgan (1992)
* Sylvester Stallone (1992)
* Jean Marais (1993)
* Marcello Mastroianni (1993)
* Gérard Oury (1993)
* Jean Carmet (1994)
* Jeanne Moreau (1995)
* Gregory Peck (1995)
* Steven Spielberg (1995)
* Lauren Bacall (1996)
* Henri Verneuil (1996)
* Charles Aznavour (1997)
* Andie MacDowell (1997)
* Michael Douglas (1998)
* Clint Eastwood (1998)
* Jean-Luc Godard (1998)
* Pedro Almodóvar (1999)
* Johnny Depp (1999)
* Jean Rochefort (1999)
* Josiane Balasko (2000)
* Georges Cravenne (2000)
* Jean-Pierre Léaud (2000)
* Martin Scorsese (2000)

2001–present|

* Darry Cowl (2001)
* Charlotte Rampling (2001)
* Agnès Varda (2001)
* Anouk Aimée (2002)
* Jeremy Irons (2002)
* Claude Rich (2002)
* Bernadette Lafont (2003)
* Spike Lee (2003)
* Meryl Streep (2003)
* Micheline Presle (2004)
* Jacques Dutronc (2005)
* Will Smith (2005)
* Hugh Grant (2006)
* Pierre Richard (2006)
* Marlène Jobert (2007)
* Jude Law (2007)
* Jeanne Moreau (2008)
* Roberto Benigni (2008)
* Romy Schneider (2008)
* Dustin Hoffman (2009)
* Harrison Ford (2010)
* Quentin Tarantino (2011)
* Kate Winslet (2012)
* Kevin Costner (2013)
* Scarlett Johansson (2014)
* Sean Penn (2015)
* Michael Douglas (2016)
* George Clooney (2017)
* Penélope Cruz (2018)
* Robert Redford (2019)
* Cate Blanchett (2022)
* David Fincher (2023)
* Agnès Jaoui (2024)
* Christopher Nolan (2024)
* Julia Roberts (2025)

Authority control databases

International|

* VIAF

National|

* Germany
* United States
* France
* BnF data
* Australia

Artists|

* RKD Artists

People|

* Trove
* Deutsche Biographie

Other|

* SNAC

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