Popeye the Sailor is a cartoon fictional character created by Elzie Crisler Segar.[3][4][5] The character first appeared in the daily King Features comic strip, Thimble Theatre, on January 17, 1929, and Popeye became the strip's title in later years; Popeye has also appeared in theatrical and television animated cartoons.[4]
Segar's Thimble Theatre strip was in its 10th year when Popeye made his debut, but the one-eyed (left) sailor quickly became the main focus of the strip, and Thimble Theatre became one of King Features' most popular properties during the 1930s. After Segar's death in 1938, Thimble Theatre was continued by several writers and artists, most notably Segar's assistant Bud Sagendorf. The strip continues to appear in first-run installments in its Sunday edition, written and drawn by Hy Eisman. The daily strips are reprints of old Sagendorf stories.[4]
In 1933, Max Fleischer adapted the Thimble Theatre characters into a series of Popeye the Sailor theatrical cartoon shorts for Paramount Pictures. These cartoons proved to be among the most popular of the 1930s, and Fleischer—and later Paramount's own Famous Studios—continued production through 1957. These cartoon shorts are now owned by Turner Entertainment, a subsidiary of Time Warner, and distributed by its sister company Warner Bros. Entertainment.[6]
Over the years, Popeye has also appeared in comic books, television cartoons, arcade and video games, hundreds of advertisements,[4] and peripheral products (ranging from spinach to candy cigarettes), and the 1980 live-action film directed by Robert Altman, starring comedian Robin Williams as Popeye.
In an interview, Charles Schulz said "Popeye was a great favorite of mine...I think Popeye was a perfect comic strip, consistent in drawing and humor".[7] In 2002, TV Guide ranked Popeye
#20 on its "50 Greatest Cartoon Characters of All Time" list.[8]
with Betty Boop in Popeye the Sailor
Author

E. C. Segar (creator, 1919–1937, 1938)
Doc Winner (1937, 1938)
Tom Sims & Bela Zaboly (1938–1955)
Ralph Stein & Bela Zaboly (1954–1959)
Bud Sagendorf (1959–1994)
Bobby London (1986–1992)
Hy Eisman (1994–present)
Actors
Robin Williams (1980 film)
Voice actors
William Costello (1933–1935)
Detmar Poppen (1935–1936, radio only)
Floyd Buckley (Be Kind To Animals, 1936–1937 radio appearances)
Jack Mercer (1935–1945 and 1947–1984)
Mae Questel (Shape Ahoy)
Harry Foster Welch (1945–1947)
Maurice LaMarche (1985–present)
Billy West (Popeye's Voyage: The Quest for Pappy, Drawn Together, Minute Maid commercials)
Keith Scott (Popeye and Bluto's Bilge-Rat Barges)[1]
Scott Innes (commercials)
Tom Kenny (2014 animation test)[2]
Website
www.popeye.com
comicskingdom.com/popeye
Current status / schedule New strips on Sundays, reprints Monday through Saturday
Launch date December 19, 1919
End date July 30, 1994 (date of last first-run daily strip, Sunday strips continue)
Syndicate

King Features Syndicate
Publisher

King Features Syndicate
Genre

Humor, adventure