About Bil Keane

Name variants

Bill Keane
  • Biography

    Bil Keane (1922-2011)

    An American cartoonist best known for his work on the long-running newspaper comic The Family Circus, which began its run in 1960 and continues in syndication.

    Bil Keane was born William Aloysius Keane in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He taught himself to draw while attending Northeast Catholic High School by mimicking the style of the cartoons published in The New Yorker. His first cartoon was published on May 21, 1936 on the amateur page of the Philadelphia Daily News.

    Keane served in the U.S. Army from 1942 to 1945, drawing for Yank magazine and creating the "At Ease with the Japanese" feature for the Pacific edition of Stars and Stripes. While ...

    But wait, there's more...

    Displaying 4,419 of 4,403 characters.

    Subscriber Members, please Sign In for full artist biographies and all services.

    For non-paying users, good news! Full text bios for all artists are available every Friday.

    If you are not currently a member, please See Details about membership.

** If you discover credit omissions or have additional information to add, please let us know at .

Share an image of the Artist: .