US Dennis the Menace creator dies

Ketcham was inspired by his four-year-old son

Hank Ketcham, who created the Dennis the Menace cartoon character in the United States, has died aged 81.

He had suffered from heart disease and cancer, his publicist said.

Dennis turned 50 in March

Ketcham drew the comic strip for 43 years until he stopped in 1994, but let it continue under a team of artists and writers.

The cartoon - different from the one that appears in The Beano comic in Britain - appeared in 1,000 newspapers, 48 countries and 19 languages.

Ellen James, a neighbour and family friend, said his death had been peaceful.

"He had had some bad spells and he slipped away in his sleep," she said.

Inspiration

The freckle-faced, fair-haired Dennis the Menace has tormented cranky neighbour Mr Wilson and amused readers for 50 years.

He also inspired a television show, a musical and a 1993 film.

Ketcham got the idea in 1950 when his wife, Alice, burst into his home studio, exasperated that their four-year-old son Dennis had dismantled his room instead of taking a nap.

"Your son is a menace!" she said.

Two different Dennis the Menace characters were created by different people on different sides of the Atlantic - but by chance made their first appearance on the same day - 12 March 1951.

Born Henry King Ketcham, the artist grew up in Seattle and decided to be a cartoonist at the age of six.

He began his career with Walter Lantz - creator of Woody Woodpecker - before moving to Disney, where he worked on Pinocchio, Bambi, Fantasia and Donald Duck shorts.

Trademark

During World War II, he drew cartoons for Navy posters.

But Dennis the Menace, with his trademark black and white striped T-shirt and red dungarees, was his biggest success.

It was an instant hit, and a collection of Dennis cartoons soon became a best-seller.

Ketcham put its enduring popularity down to a team approach, using comedy writers to contribute ideas.

'Mediocrity'

"Anyone in the humour business isn't thinking clearly if he doesn't surround himself with idea people," he said in 1994.

"Otherwise, you settle for... mediocrity - or you burn yourself out."

Ketcham and his first wife had separated when she died in 1959.

He and his son Dennis drifted apart, and they spoke infrequently in later life.

The cartoonist moved to Switzerland and lived in Geneva for 17 years and returned to the United States infrequently.

Settled

But he used the Sears catalogue to keep up with the changing American way of life for his strip.

He moved back to America in 1977 and settled in Monterey, California, with a third wife and two more children.

After giving up Dennis the Menace, he concentrated on oil and watercolour portraits.

He said he didn't mind if Dennis the Menace outlived him.

"I'm not in it for posterity. People look at it for 30 seconds... then it gets used to wrap fish," he said.