Illustrator for 34 years of the comic strip "Prince Valiant", an Arthurian legend for King Features Syndicate, John Murphy was born in New York City and grew up in Chicago and New Rochelle, New York. In 1970, he took over the "Prince Valiant" saga from its creator, Hal Foster, and continued the series until several months before his death in Greenwich, Connecticut at age 85.

For the Murphy family, the comic strip was a family enterprise. Cullen Murphy, the illustrator's son and also managing editor of "Atlantic Monthly", did the story line and a daughter, Meg, did the lettering.

Murphy became aware of illustration art at a young age through his neighbor, Norman Rockwell, who used Murphy, age 9, for a "Saturday Evening Post" c...