Alexander Anderson, creator of Rocky and Bullwinkle, dies at 90

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Alexander Anderson, recognized as the creator of the cartoon characters Rocky and Bullwinkle, died Friday at a nursing home in Carmel, said his wife, Patricia. He was 90.

His work also included ‘Crusader Rabbit’ for NBC, the first animated series created specifically for television.

Anderson came from a family of creative artists and in 1938 started working in animation with his uncle Paul Terry at Terrytoons, the New York studio that created ‘Mighty Mouse.’

Anderson, who attended UC Berkeley and the California School of Fine Arts in San Francisco, returned to Berkeley after serving in the Navy during World War II. He started working with childhood friend Jay Ward.

Anderson reached an out-of-court settlement in the 1990s with Jay Ward Productions over rights to Bullwinkle, Rocky and Dudley-Do-Right. The settlement recoginzed Anderson’s creative role.

He filed the lawsuit after discovering Ward was the sole holder of the copyrights.

-- McClatchy-Tribune News Service