Philip Dey Eastman (better known as P. D. Eastman) was a screenwriter and author of popular children's books. He was born on November 25, 1909 in Amherst, Massachusetts. He studied at Phillips Academy and Williston Academy, and graduated from Amherst College in 1933 and later from the National Academy of Design.
P. D. Eastman began his career in the story department of Walt Disney productions during the 1930's and subsequently worked for Warner Brothers and United Productions of America. During WWII, he made orientation films for the U. S. Army. Eastman then joined United Productions of America (UPA), where he helped develop the cartoon character Mister Magoo. While at UPA, he was also one of the creators of Gerald McBoing Boing, the first non-Disney animated movie to win an Academy Award. By the 1950's, however, he had turned to free-lance work and also began writing children's books. His first self-illustrated work was Sam and the Firefly, and he soon followed it with the now classic Are You My Mother? and the popular Go, Dog, Go!
Eastman was married in 1941 to Mary Louise Whitham of Glendale, California. They had two sons, including Tony Eastman, who himself directed videotape adaptations of Richard Scarry's children's books. P. D. Eastman died of pneumonia on January 7, 1986, in Cresskill.
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