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James Robert "'''Jim'''" '''Davis''' (born July 28 , 1945 ), is an American Cartoonist who created the popular comic strip '' Garfield ''. BIOGRAPHY Personal Jim Davis was born in Fairmount, Indiana , near Marion , where he grew up on a small farm with his father Jim (Sr.), mother Betty, brother Dave, and 25 Cat s. Davis' childhood on a farm parallels the life of his cartoon character Garfield's owner, Jon Arbuckle , who was also raised on a farm with his parents and a brother, Doc Boy. Jon, too, is a cartoonist, and also celebrates his birthday on July 28 . Davis attended Ball State University . While attending Ball State, he became a member of the Theta Xi Fraternity . Davis as of 2007 resides in Muncie, Indiana , where he and his staff produce ''Garfield'' under his company, Paws, Inc. , begun in 1981. He was married to Carolyn, a singer and elementary teacher whom he met while both were attending college, and has a son named James with her. However, the couple divorced, and Davis since 2000 has been married to Jill, Paws' senior vice president of licensing, who has worked there approximately 25 years. Ironically, Davis did not own Cat s when he started ''Garfield'' because of Carolyn's allergies, but they owned a Labrador Retriever named Molly. With Jill, the family has expanded to include children Ashley and Chris; three grandchildren, Chloe, Carly and Cody; cats, Spunky and Nermal; and a dog, Pooky. Professional Prior to creating Garfield, Davis worked for a local advertising agency and in 1969 began assisting Tom Ryan 's comic strip, '' Tumbleweeds ''. He then created a comic strip, '' Gnorm Gnat '', that ran for five years in '' The Muskegon Chronicle '', a Michigan newspaper. Davis tried to sell it to a national comic strip Syndicate , but an editor told him, "Your art is good, your gags are great, but bugs — nobody can relate with bugs!" On June 19 , 1978 , Garfield started syndication in 41 newspapers. It went on to become a long-running international hit, remaining so as of 2007. Davis in the 1980s also created the barnyard- Slapstick comic strip '' U.S. Acres '', featuring Orson the Pig. Outside the U.S., the strip was known as ''Orson's Farm''. Davis also created a 2000-2003 strip based on the toy Mr. Potato Head . In the 2005, Davis appeared in the Music Video " Lazy Muncie ", a parody of the '' Saturday Night Live '' video " Lazy Sunday ". ''GARFIELD'' The comic strip '' Garfield '' appears in more than 2,500 newspapers as of 2007. The character is named after Davis' grandfather, James Garfield Davis, who in turn had been named after the Assassinated U.S. President James Abram Garfield . '' Garfield And Friends '' was an Animated TV Series that ran on CBS from 1988-1994. Also created by Davis, it featured segments based on his comic strips. The live-action '''', was released in U.S. Movie Theatres on June 16 , 2006 . A fully animated CGI called Garfield Gets Real , written by Davis, will be released direct-to-video (and possibly receive a limited theatrical showing) in the Fall of 2007. AWARDS
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