Editing Albert Uderzo

{{Short description|French comic book artist (1927–2020)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}}
{{Infobox comics creator
| image         = Albert Uderzo 2012.jpg
| caption       = Uderzo in 2012
| birth_name    = Alberto Aleandro Uderzo
| birth_date    = {{Birth date|1927|04|25|df=yes}}
| birth_place   = [[Fismes]], France
| death_date    = {{death date and age|df=y|2020|3|24|1927|04|25}}
| death_place   = [[Neuilly-sur-Seine]], France
| write         = y
| art           = y
| alias         =
| signature     = Uderzo signature.png
| signature_alt = Albert Uderzo's signature
| notable works = ''[[Asterix|Astérix]]''<br />''[[Tanguy et Laverdure]]''<br />''[[Oumpah-pah]]''
| collaborators = [[René Goscinny]]
| relatives     = [[Marcel Uderzo]] (brother)
| influences    =
| influenced    =
| awards        = [[#Awards|full list]]
| website       =
| nonUS         = y
}}

'''Alberto Aleandro Uderzo''' ({{IPA|it|alˈbɛrto aleˈandro uˈdɛrtso|lang}}; 25 April 1927 – 24 March 2020<ref name= Szalai>{{cite news |author=Szalai, Georg |title=Albert Uderzo, French Illustrator and Writer of 'Asterix,' Dies at 92 |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/albert-uderzo-dead-french-asterix-illustrator-writer-was-92-1286127 |work=[[The Hollywood Reporter]] |date=24 March 2020 |access-date=24 March 2020 }}</ref>), better known as '''Albert Uderzo''' ({{IPA|fr|albɛʁ ydɛʁzo|lang}}), was a French [[comic book artist]] and [[Script (comic)|scriptwriter]]. He is best known as the co-creator and illustrator of the ''[[Asterix|Astérix]]'' series in collaboration with [[René Goscinny]]. He also drew other comics such as ''[[Oumpah-pah]]'', again with Goscinny.
Uderzo retired in September 2011.<ref>{{cite news |title=Asterix creator Albert Uderzo quits drawing at 84 |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-15072853 |access-date=24 March 2020 |work=BBC News |date=27 September 2011}}</ref>

==Early life==
Uderzo was born in [[Fismes]] in the [[Marne (department)|Marne department]] of France on 25 April 1927 as the fourth child of Italian immigrants Silvio Uderzo (1888–1985), a carpenter,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://gw.geneanet.org/wikifrat?lang=en&pz=honore+gabriel&nz=de+riqueti+de+mirabeau&p=silvio&n=uderzo|title=Silvio Uderzo, 1888–1985|website=geneanet}}</ref> and his wife Iria Uderzo ({{née|Crestini}}, 1897–1997).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://geneafrance.com/?n=CRESTINI|title=Liste des décès (INSEE)|website=geneafrance}}</ref> His parents had met in 1915 in [[La Spezia]], where Silvio Uderzo was recovering after being wounded while serving in the [[Royal Italian Army]] during [[World War I]]. Uderzo's mother, Iria Crestini, was working in the arsenals of La Spezia, along with many young Italian women at the time. Silvio was discharged from military service after the war, on 19 June 1919. The two became a couple and married shortly before the birth of their first child, Bruno (1920–2004). After Bruno, they had Rina in 1922. They moved from Italy to France with their then two children, first settling in [[Chauny]] in the [[Aisne departement]]. They changed location regularly. In Chauny, a son named Albert was born in 1925 but died of [[pneumonia]] at the age of 8 months. The Uderzos decided to name their next son in honor of the late brother. The name "Albert", that of the deceased brother, became the Italian "Alberto" because the registrar misunderstood Silvio Uderzo's heavy Italian accent.{{cn|date=October 2023}} The name "Aleandro" is in honor of Uderzo's paternal grandfather.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Uderzo: Der weite Weg zu Asterix|last=Uderzo|first=Albert|publisher=Horizont Verlag|year=1987|isbn=3770407008|edition=Horizont Klub 1987|location=Stuttgart|pages=11–17|language=de|translator-last=Skudelny|translator-first=Heide|chapter=1: Die Zeit der Lakritzenstangen 1927-1940|trans-chapter=1: The time of liquorice sticks 1927-1940|orig-year=1985|translator-last2=Wagner|translator-first2=Christine|translator-last3=Boerschel|translator-first3=Andreas}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iR6Jnlm2i14C|title=Albert Uderzo se raconte...|last1=Uderzo|first1=Albert|date=2008|publisher=Stock|isbn=9782234062726|pages=4–12|language=fr}}</ref>
[[File:Uderzo à Paris.jpg|thumb|Uderzo in his home studio in Neuilly-sur-Seine near Paris, 2014]]

Uderzo was born on the morning of 25 April 1927 around 07:00. At this point, he was an Italian citizen rather than a French one. Uderzo was born with six fingers on each hand. The additional fingers were surgically removed early in childhood as a precaution, as the infant Uderzo would sometimes violently pull on them when enraged or annoyed.<ref name=":0" />

In 1929, the Uderzos moved to [[Clichy-sous-Bois]] in the eastern suburbs of Paris, the capital city of France. Here, Uderzo experienced elements of xenophobia against Italian immigrants during his childhood, even though he gained French citizenship in the year 1934. Clichy-sous-Bois, at the time a very politically left-leaning political district, held deep popular sentiments against [[Mussolini|Mussolini's]] dictatorship and its involvement in the [[Spanish Civil War]]. Uderzo at one particular point became the target of the anger of a victim of Italian-German bombardment in the Spanish Civil War, and said a man spat in his face. However, apart from the occasional ethnic resentment against Italians, Uderzo viewed his childhood and education in Clichy-sous-Bois fondly in retrospect. His mother gave birth to two more children: Jeanne was born in 1932 and [[Marcel Uderzo|Marcel]] in 1933.<ref name=":0" />

Uderzo came in touch with the arts for the first time during kindergarten, where he was noted as talented for his age. Most of his siblings also shared certain artistic talents, and their mother used sheets of paper and pencils to give the children, especially her oldest son Bruno, something to do. Bruno became an inspiration for Albert and in turn, soon noted the younger brother's talent. At this point, Albert did not yet aim to become a professional artist later in life and instead dreamt about a career as a clown and, after dropping that aspiration, aimed to follow Bruno into the craft of aircraft engineering. At the same time, he came in contact with the [[United States|American]] [[Comics|comic]] and [[animated cartoon]] cultures, particularly with the early works of [[Walt Disney]] like [[Mickey Mouse universe|Mickey Mouse]] and [[Donald Duck universe|Donald Duck]]. The family moved to the Rue de Montreuil in the [[11th arrondissement of Paris]] in October 1938, changing both schools and the social vicinity. Although Albert, now with a Parisian accent, was no longer easily recognized as of Italian heritage, he nonetheless had problems in school. His only successful area in his educational pursuits was sketching and the arts. It would take him until around the age of 11 or 12 to go from sketching to painting in colors, however, which was when his parents discovered that Uderzo was [[Color blindness|color blind]]. From then on, Uderzo would use labels on his colors, but as he mostly stuck with black-and-white sketching, it would not make a huge impact on his artistic career either way.<ref name=":0" />

In September 1939, [[Invasion of Poland|Germany invaded Poland]] and [[Declarations of war during World War II|France declared war on Germany in response]]. Albert's father Silvio, by then 51, was too old to be conscripted into the French army, whereas Albert himself was too young at 12. Bruno, however, was of military age and was called to action, which he survived without injury. Albert soon finished his basic education at the age of 13 and decided to follow Bruno into aircraft engineering.<ref name=":0" />

==Working with Goscinny==
[[File:Albert Uderzo en 1973.jpg|thumb|Uderzo in Montreal, 1973]]
After working on various creations and travelling for the next few years, Uderzo met [[René Goscinny]] in 1951. The two men quickly became good friends, and decided to work together in 1952 at the newly opened Paris office of the Belgian company, World Press. Their first creations were the characters [[Oumpah-pah]], Jehan Pistolet and Luc Junior.<ref name="lambiek">{{cite web | last = Lambiek Comiclopedia | title = Albert Uderzo | url =http://lambiek.net/artists/u/uderzo.htm}}</ref><ref name="lagardere">{{cite web | last = Lagardère | title = Release of the 33rd Asterix volume | url =http://www.lagardere.com/us/actualites/detail_actu.cfm?idt=9&idn=5994&nav=0 }}</ref> In 1958 they adapted ''Oumpah-pah'' for serial publication in the [[Franco-Belgian comics]] magazine ''[[Tintin (magazine)|Tintin]]'', where it ran until 1962.<ref name="asterix int">{{cite web|last=Asterix International! |title=Albert Uderzo |url=http://www.asterix-international.de/asterix/uderzo.shtml |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041208183211/http://www.asterix-international.de/asterix/uderzo.shtml |archive-date=8 December 2004 }}</ref> In 1959 Goscinny and Uderzo became editor and artistic director (respectively) of ''[[Pilote]]'' magazine, a new venture aimed at older children. The magazine's first issue introduced [[Astérix]] to the French world, and it was an instant hit.<ref name="lambiek"/><ref name="Pilote-1959">{{cite web | last =BDoubliées | title =Pilote année 1959 | url =http://bdoubliees.com/journalpilote/series1/asterix.htm | language = fr }}</ref> During this period Uderzo also collaborated with [[Jean-Michel Charlier]] on the realistic series ''[[Tanguy et Laverdure|Michel Tanguy]]'', later named ''Les Aventures de Tanguy et Laverdure''.<ref name="lambiek"/>

Astérix was serialised in ''Pilote'', and in 1961 the first story ''Astérix le Gaulois (Asterix the Gaul)'' was published as an individual album.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Jarvis |first1=Alice-Azania |title=The Timeline: Astérix comics |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/the-timeline-ast-rix-comics-2361874.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200325134938/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/the-timeline-ast-rix-comics-2361874.html |archive-date=2020-03-25 |url-access=limited |url-status=live |access-date=25 March 2020 |work=The Independent |date=28 September 2011}}</ref> New Astérix albums were regularly published by the duo over the next sixteen years, until Goscinny’s sudden death in 1977. Thereafter Uderzo continued to write and illustrate the books on his own, published by his own publishing house "Albert René",<ref>{{cite news |last1=Wünsch |first1=Silke |title=Asterix creator Albert Uderzo turns 90 |url=https://www.dw.com/en/asterix-creator-albert-uderzo-turns-90/a-38574295 |access-date=25 March 2020 |work=Deutsche Welle |date=25 April 2017 |page=5}}</ref> though at a significantly slower pace (averaging one edition every three to five years compared to two editions a year when working with Goscinny).<ref>{{cite news |title=Astérix: Uderzo jette l'éponge |url=https://www.lesechos.fr/1994/06/asterix-uderzo-jette-leponge-883566 |access-date=27 March 2020 |work=Les Echos |date=6 June 1994 |language=fr}}</ref>

==Family==
Uderzo married Ada Milani in 1953 and had one daughter Sylvie Uderzo (b. 1956).<ref>{{cite news |last1=Lefèvre |first1=Christophe |title=Eaubonne se souvient d'Albert Uderzo |url=http://www.leparisien.fr/val-d-oise-95/eaubonne-se-souvient-d-albert-uderzo-24-03-2020-8287191.php |access-date=25 March 2020 |work=Le Parisien |date=24 March 2020 |language=fr}}</ref>

After Uderzo fired Sylvie and her husband in 2007 as managers of his estate and agreed to sell his share of [[Éditions Albert René]] to [[Hachette Livre]], Sylvie accused him in a column in ''[[Le Monde]]'', that with this sale to a corporation it was "as if the gates of the Gaulish village had been thrown open to the Roman Empire". Uderzo had previously stated in interviews that Asterix would end with his death; however, the terms of the sale to Hachette allowed the company to continue producing Asterix titles indefinitely with or without Uderzo's participation. Uderzo in 2013 sued his daughter and son-in-law for "psychological violence". Sylvie responded with a lawsuit claiming persons unnamed had abused her father's "frailty". Her case was thrown out of court in 2014 and the two reached an amicable settlement.<ref>{{cite news|title=Asterix creator Uderzo ends long dispute with daughter|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-29378542|access-date=3 January 2018|publisher=BBC|date=26 September 2014}}</ref>

Upon Uderzo's retirement in 2011, Asterix was taken over by [[Jean-Yves Ferri]] (script) and [[Didier Conrad]] (art).<ref>{{cite news |last1=Beyer |first1=Julia |title=Astérix : le Papyrus de César fait déjà rire les Gaulois |url=https://www.lefigaro.fr/bd/2015/04/01/03014-20150401ARTFIG00265-asterix-le-papyrus-de-cesar-fait-deja-rire-les-gaulois.php |access-date=25 March 2020 |work=Le Figaro |date=1 April 2015 |language=fr}}</ref>

Sylvie owned 40% of Éditions Albert René before selling her parts to Hachette. The publishing group now owns 100%, after the remaining 60%, previously owned by Uderzo and by Goscinny's daughter, were also sold to Hachette Livre.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/dont-leave-our-asterix-in-a-fix-dad-1366733.html | title=Don't leave our Asterix in a fix, dad |access-date=16 January 2009 |author=Estelle Shirbon |date=15 January 2009 |newspaper=The Independent| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090118005556/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/dont-leave-our-asterix-in-a-fix-dad-1366733.html| archive-date= 18 January 2009 | url-status= live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.lagardere.com/centre-presse/communiques-de-presse/communiques-de-presse-122.html&idpress=5069|title=Lagardère - Communiqués de presse|website=www.lagardere.com|language=fr|access-date=2020-03-31}}</ref>

Uderzo's brother, Marcel, was also a cartoonist.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://lambiek.net/artists/u/uderzo_marcel.htm |title=Comic creator: Marcel Uderzo |publisher=Lambiek.net |date=18 December 2006 |access-date=31 December 2010}}</ref> [[Marcel Uderzo]] worked with his brother Albert for the drawing and coloring of about twelve Asterix albums.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://tv.phylacteres.fr/rencontre-avec-marcel-uderzo-frere-dalbert-uderzo-et-assistant-dessinateur-dasterix/|title=Rencontre avec Marcel Uderzo – frère d'Albert Uderzo et assistant dessinateur d'Astérix – Phylacteres|language=fr-FR|access-date=2020-03-31}}</ref>

==Death==
On 24 March 2020, Uderzo died in his sleep at his home in [[Neuilly-sur-Seine]], after suffering a [[heart attack]], at the age of 92. His son-in-law Bernard de Choisy said the heart attack was not linked to [[COVID-19]], and that Uderzo had felt very tired for several weeks prior to his death.<ref name= Szalai/><ref>{{cite news |title=Albert Uderzo: Asterix co-creator and illustrator dies aged 92 |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-52016721 |access-date=24 March 2020 |work=[[BBC News]] |date=24 March 2020}}</ref>

==Awards==
* 1985: Awarded the Knight of the [[Légion d'honneur|Legion of Honour]]<ref name="Muraz">{{cite news |last1=Muraz |first1=Daniel |title=Uderzo légionnaire prend du grade |url=https://lecourrierplus.fr/bulles-picardes/evenements/uderzo-legionnaire-prend-du-grade/ |access-date=27 March 2020 |work=Le Courrier Picard |date=15 July 2013 |language=fr}}</ref>
* 1999: [[Grand Prix de la ville d'Angoulême]], special prize for the millennium<ref name="Larousse">{{cite web |title=Albert Uderzo |url=https://www.larousse.fr/encyclopedie/personnage/Albert_Uderzo/147802 |publisher=Encyclopédie Larousse |access-date=28 March 2020 |language=fr}}</ref>
* 2004: [[Max & Moritz Prize]] Special Prize for outstanding life's work<ref>{{cite news |title="Asterix"-Vater Uderzo erhält Max- und Moritz-Preis |url=https://www.derstandard.at/story/1647187/asterix-vater-uderzo-erhaelt-max--und-moritz-preis |access-date=28 March 2020 |work=Der Standard |date=4 May 2004 |language=de}}</ref>
* 2005: Inducted into the [[Eisner Award]] Hall of Fame, U.S.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Price |first1=Matthew |title=Eisner awards honor comic book excellence |url=https://oklahoman.com/article/2905501/eisner-awards-honor-comic-book-excellence |access-date=28 March 2020 |work=The Oklahoman |date=29 July 2005}}</ref>
* 2006: Awarded the Knight of the [[Order of the Netherlands Lion]]<ref>{{cite news |title=Lintje voor tekenaar van Asterix |url=https://www.trouw.nl/nieuws/lintje-voor-tekenaar-van-asterix~bf1a1088/ |access-date=27 March 2020 |work=Trouw |agency=ANP |date=28 April 2006 |language=nl}}</ref>
* 2013: Awarded the Officer of the [[Légion d'honneur|Legion of Honour]]<ref name="Muraz"/>

According to the [[UNESCO]]'s [[Index Translationum]], Uderzo is the 10th most often translated French language author (Goscinny being 4th) and the third most often translated French language comics author behind [[René Goscinny]] and [[Hergé]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://databases.unesco.org/xtrans/stat/xTransStat.a?VL1=A&top=10&sl=FRA&lg=0 |title=Index Translationum French top 10 |access-date=20 June 2007 |archive-date=13 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190713091845/http://www.unesco.org/xtrans/bsstatlist.aspx |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{commons category-inline}}
* [http://www.asterix.com ''Astérix'' official site]
* {{cite web |url= http://lambiek.net/artists/u/uderzo.htm |title= Albert Uderzo |website= [[Lambiek|Lambiek Comiclopedia]] }}
* {{cite web |url= http://www.asterix-international.de/asterix/uderzo.shtml |title= Albert Uderzo |website= Asterix International |quote= Pre-1977 biography |url-status= usurped |archive-date= 8 December 2004 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20041208183211/http://www.asterix-international.de/asterix/uderzo.shtml }}
* {{IMDb name|0879853}}

{{Asterix|Uderzo, Albert|type=people}}{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Uderzo, Albert}}
[[Category:1927 births]]
[[Category:2020 deaths]]
[[Category:Naturalized citizens of France]]
[[Category:20th-century French artists]]
[[Category:21st-century French artists]]
[[Category:20th-century French writers]]
[[Category:21st-century French writers]]
[[Category:French comics artists]]
[[Category:French comics writers]]
[[Category:French humorists]]
[[Category:People from Marne (department)]]
[[Category:French people of Italian descent]]
[[Category:People of Venetian descent]]
[[Category:People of Tuscan descent]]
[[Category:Asterix]]
[[Category:Writers who illustrated their own writing]]
[[Category:Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame inductees]]
[[Category:Knights of the Legion of Honour]]
[[Category:Knights of the Order of the Netherlands Lion]]
[[Category:Grand Prix de la ville d'Angoulême winners]]
[[Category:People from Clichy-sous-Bois]]
[[Category:People with polydactyly]]
[[Category:Tintin (magazine) people]]
[[Category:Pilote]]