Art Clokey: Gumby Creator Dies At 88

Art Clokey who created the Gumby clay figure was passed away on Friday. Clokey’s son, Joseph said that his father died during his sleep after he had suffered from several bladder infections. He was 88 years old when he died.

The Gumby clay figure was invented by Clokey and his wife, Ruth soon after he had finished the film school at USC. Since Gumby made its debut at The Howdy Doody Show, it had became very popular. The popularity of the clay figure lead to a television show called “The Adventures of Gumby”. The “Adventures of Gumby” was the first show to use clay animation in the show.

Art Clokey’s real name is Arthur Farrington. He was born in the 12th of October in Detroit, Michigan. Clokey is the pioneer of the stop motion clay animation. It starts with a film experiment called Gumbasia in 1955 that his professor Slavko Vorkapich at the University of Southern California motivated him.