Marlette, Doug, 1949-

Doug Marlette was born in Greensboro, N.C., in 1949. Marlette's father served in World War II and, after the War, as a United States Marine Corps medic. His mother was a homemaker. Marlette has two siblings. In 1980, Marlette married Melinda Hartley; their son Jackson was born in 1986. The Marlettes' home is in Hillsborough, N.C.

During Marlette's childhood, his family followed his father's postings to different Marine Corps stations. From Greensboro, they moved to Durham, N.C. In 1962, the family moved to Laurel, Miss., where Marlette attended Sunday school at Magnolia Street Baptist Church. In 1966, they moved to Sanford, Fla., where Marlette, still in high school, worked as a staff artist for the Sanford Herald, contributing drawings for the sports and editorial pages. From 1968 to 1969, Marlette attended Seminole Community College and began his political cartooning career working for Ralph Dunigan at the Orlando Sentinel-Star . After two years of community college, Marlette transferred to Florida State University in Tallahassee and began working as editorial cartoonist for the Florida Flambeau, the campus newspaper. Marlette then worked for six months as a staff artist and sometimes editorial cartoonist for the St. Petersburg Times in Florida. In 1972, Marlette returned to North Carolina as the editorial cartoonist for the Charlotte Observer .

In June 1975, King Features began national syndication of Marlette's work and he published his first book, The Emperor Has No Clothes . In 1976, he received a citation from the Overseas Press Club for foreign affairs cartoons. Marlette published his second book, If You Can't Say Something Nice, in 1978, and his third, Drawing Blood, in 1980. Marlette was granted a one-year Nieman Fellowship from Harvard University, in 1980, the first cartoonist to win the award. He spent 1980-1981 attending seminars, meeting scholars and artists, and attending classes. Upon completing the Nieman Fellowship, Marlette returned to the Charlotte Observer and began publishing the daily comic strip Kudzu in May 1981 in addition to his editorial cartoons. Jefferson Communications, the Chicago Tribune, and the New York Newsday Syndicate distributed the comic strip nationally. In 1982, Marlette published his first Kudzu book.

In 1987, after 15 years producing editorial cartoons for the Charlotte Observer, Marlette joined the Atlanta Constitution and editor Bill Kovacs, formerly Washington bureau editor for the New York Times . One year later, Kovacs was fired from the paper, and Marlette resigned. He then went to work as an editorial cartoonist for Newsday .

Marlette's work has been collected in 17 volumes. He also wrote the screenplay for Ex with Pat Conroy. He wrote Kudzu, A Southern Musical, the musical adaptation of his comic strip, in collaboration with Jack Herrick and Bland Simpson of the Red Clay Ramblers. The play, produced at Duke University and at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., was published by Samuel French Company.

Marlette has won every major award for editorial cartooning, including the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning for his work at the Charlotte Observer and at the Atlanta Constitution . He has received the National Headliners Award for Consistently Outstanding Editorial Cartoons three times, the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Award for editorial cartooning twice, and first prize in the John Fischetti Memorial Cartoon Competition twice. His work has appeared in major newspapers and new magazines, and he has appeared on many nationally broadcast television and radio programs.

From the guide to the Doug Marlette Papers (#5008), 1968-1998, (Southern Historical Collection)