Cartoonist B. Kliban, an art-school washout with a childhood allergy to cats whose drawings of plump, striped felines went from the pages of Playboy to greater fame on T-shirts and calendars, has died at 55.
Kliban, who lived in Corte Madera, died Sunday at the University of California at San Francisco Medical Center. The cause of death was not immediately known, but Kliban had undergone heart surgery there July 31.The cartoonist's droll, round-eyed cats often pursued human activities. They worked at the office, strummed guitars, skied and spent summers at the beach.
Books with his cartoons include "Cat," "Tiny Footprints" and "Playboy's Kliban."
Kliban's cat-design T-shirts included a bestseller with the caption: "Sex, Mice and Rock And Roll." A popular poster featuring a Kliban cat read, "Cat: one hell of a nice animal, frequently mistaken for a meatloaf."
His cats also were on calendars, bed sheets, bath mats, beer mugs and umbrellas.
Neiman-Marcus, the posh department store, put a non-feline Kliban - camels toting rainbows - on its shopping bags and catalogs in 1981. Bernard Kliban said he was born in Connecticut on New Year's Day and thus got the nickname "Hap," for "Happy New Year."
He said he had had an allegery to cats until he hit his 20s. At his death, he had four cats.
He flunked out of Pratt Institute and Cooper Union before he went to California in 1959 and began drawing for Playboy in the mid-1970s. In his pre-cat days, he said, he drew ads, corporate logos and annual reports.
Survivors include his wife, Judith, and two daughters.
Funeral arrangements were not immediately announced.