AL TALIAFERRO

1905-1969

Charles Alfred 'Al' Taliaferro joined Disney's in 1931 and he spent the first few years as an inker on Floyd Gottfredson's daily Mickey Mouse strip. After Donald Duck was born he was given the golden opportunity of drawing Donald in a daily newspaper strip and in one-pagers for Western. In the beginning, Taliaferro kept his Donald Duck pretty close to the contemporary cartoons in which the duck was portrayed as a choleric brat, but his inventions Huey, Dewey and Louie furthered the Donald Duck stories because they were the perfect foils for their uncle. Over a period of time Taliaferro slowly changed Donald into a multifaceted character. He was an extremely talented artist with a very distinct style.