René Goscinny

René Goscinny was a French writer and comic editor. He was born in Paris on August 14^th, 1962. He became popular for editing the illustration of the book Asterix on which he collaborated with Alert Uderz.

He was born in a Jewish family that moved to Paris from Poland. His father Stanisław Simkha Gościnny was an engineer in Warszawa, Poland. He has 6 years older brother Claude.

His parents met in Paris where they fell in love and got married in 1919. Two years after Rene was born his family decided to move to Buenos Aires, Argentina, because of his father’s work.

He had a happy childhood in Buenos Aires and there he attended French schools. He was the main entertainer of the class and he used it to hide away his shyness. He started to draw at an early age and he drew the themes of the stories he likes to read.

In December of 1943 he lost his father just a year after graduating. His father’s death forced his to get a job and next year he became an accountant. The next year he was fired and then got a job in an agency as a junior illustrator.

In 1945 he moved to New York with his mother where they met with his uncle Boris. To avoid participating in the American army Rene moved to Paris in 1946 where he served in the French army. He became an appreciated illustrator and made posters for the army.

In 1947 he came back to New York where he lived in hard conditions. He was out of work and without money. He managed to get a job in a small studio where he worked with his friends Will Elder, Jack Davis and Harvey Kurtzman. After that, he became the director of the publishing company Kunen. There he wrote 4 children’s books. He met the authors of the show Lucky Luke and he started writing for the mentioned show in 1955 until he died.

Soon he moved to Paris again where he worked in a small agency. In 1955 he participated in the formation of a union. He made illustrations for factories and in 1956 he started working with the magazine "Trintin".

In 1959 the union started working with the magazine "Pilot" and Rene became one of the best writers for the mentioned magazine. He represented his character Asterix for the first time in that magazine and later on the character became a huge hit.

In 1967 he married Gilberte Pollaro-Millo and in 1968 he got a daughter Anne Goscinny who also became a writer.

He died on November 5^th, 1977 from cardiac arrest during a routine exam at the doctor. He was buried in Nice in a Jewish cemetery.