McCay, Winsor (Zenic) (1869–1934)

US cartoonist and animator. In 1905 he created the newspaper comic strip, ‘Little Nemo in Slumberland’, which he adapted to the animated cartoon film, Little Nemo, in 1911. His early experimentation with animated films resulted in the landmark cartoon, Gertie, The Trained Dinosaur (1909), which permanently established the animated cartoon as an original art form. In 1918 he completed The Sinking of the Lusitania, which was a first of its kind, blending live action and animation. In later life, he drew editorial cartoons for the William Randolph Hearst newspapers, thereby establishing himself as an eminent cartoonist in three different disciplines. McCay was born in Spring Lake, Michigan.