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Albert Uderzo was born on April 25, 1927 in Italy but his parents emigrated to France when he was very young. His passion for for drawing emerged at an early age. It was in kindergarten that his budding artistic talents were first identified. It is then not surprising that one so inclined to sketch, would immerse himself in all the popular cartoon books at the time which included Popeye, Guy L'Eclair and Mickey Mouse Magazine to name just a few. Soon after his exposure to these books he began drawing his own stories populating them with his favourite characters. With his first box of paints came one of the first tragedies of his life. His paintings revealed his colour blindness. While this prevented him from being a painter he could still draw and this was a passion, a passion that would run the course of his life, that he pursued.

At the tender age of thirteen, entirely self-taught, he was hired on by Societe Parisian d'Edition where his mentor was Calvo who critiqued his work. He later became a machine operator for a violin maker in Menilmontant which was followed by work as a oxyacetylene welder which supported him while he dreamed of being an animator after being enthralled by Walt Disney's animated films. He would later fulfill his dream when he was hired on as an "in-betweener" at a animated film studio. Unfortunately he discovered that assembly-line work (being paid by the peice) was something he was ill-suited for forcing him to temporarily abandon his dream as an animator. It would only be later that his dream of being an animator flare into reality when he, Dargauld Inc. and long-time friend Goscinny established Idefix Studio.

His body of work dates to 1940, at age 13, as a cartoonist with Junior. In 1945, in response to an advertisement about a comic book contest being run by the publisher les Editions du Chene he created Clopinard a long lived, one-legged soldier. The character is probably rooted in his recent past as a soldier in world war II. 1946 was the year he created Arys Buck, Prince Rollin and Belljoy for the then new magazine OK Magazine. What is most noteworthy about this year is the creation of Asterix before he was called Asterix. Arys Buck, a marvellously handsome and strong prince had an alter ego created for him by Uderzo. This alter ego was a small, ugly man with a big nose and crowned by a winged helmet(sound like someone we know?). In 1948 he was hired on by World Press in their Brussels offices. It was in World Press's Parisian offices that he first met Rene Goscinny and from this meeting would come a life-long friendship that would culminate in the creation of one of the world's most beloved comic book characters, Asterix and Obelix along with their myriad of friends. Before they came up with Asterix they created jointly Jehan Pistolet and Luc Junior for the Libre Junir, a Sunday supplement of the Libre Belgium. This was followed in 1951 by the birth of Oumpah-pah though it would not be until 1958 that it would even be published.

October 1959, a date all Asterix aficionados know well marks the debut of the periodical Pilote. This magazine was launched by Rene Goscinny, Albert Uderzo and Jean-Michele Charlier and it featured in its first issue "Asterix the Gaul". The magazine also contained a lesser known strip entitled Michel Tanguy (scripted by Michel Charlier).

After his good friend, Rene Goscinny, died in 1977 he formed Les Editions Albert-Rene a publishing company in 1980 through which he would continue on the further adventures of Asterix. From then on he was solely responsible for not only the artwork but the script as well.

A car connoisseur he bought his first Ferrari in 1975 and became the President of the French Ferrari Club in 1978.

In 1999 the French courts stripped the publisher of Asterix of the rights to Asterix and awarded them to Albert Uderzo. Further adventures of Asterix are sure to follow.