Happy Birthday: Frank Bolle
Born in 1924 in New York City, Frank Bolle grew up doodling. He went to the High School of Music and Art and then served in the Air Force from 1943 to 1946.
After the war Bolle attended Pratt Institute and began looking for work—his first job in comics was in 1948 and he has been working in the industry ever since. He illustrated westerns like Black Phantom, Tim Holt, and Redmask for Magazine Enterprises; worked on Sherlock Holmes, The Lone Ranger, and other adventure stories for Western Publishing; drew several strips and covers for Boys’ Life; and did Doctor Solar, Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, and others for Gold Key Comics.
In 1982 Bolle joined Stan Drake on The Heart of Juliet Jones comic strip, which he drew for seventeen years—Bolle also drew the Winnie Winkle comic for twenty. He is still drawing Apartment 3-G, which he took over in 1999.
Bolle has won three Graumbacher Gold Medallion Awards for his oils and watercolors. In 2003 he was awarded the Inkpot Award for lifetime achievement.
Frank Bolle must be taking some kind of wonder vitamins. The man is 84. He still does a regular syndicated strip, with Apartment 3-G. He just did fill in work on Gil Thorpe. And to top it off, he takes commissions on watercolor pet portraits or Executive Sketches (high end caricatures)! Happy Birthday, Mr. Bolle. I'm about half your age, but I don't have half your energy or half your talent. Rock on!