Timeline
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Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber) was born in New York City on December 28, 1922. He is an american comic book writer, editor, publisher, media producer, television host, actor, voice actor, memoirist, and former president and chairman of Marvel Comics. Along with Jack Kirby, they created the Fantastic Four, Hulk, Iron Man, Thor, and X-Men; with Steve Ditko, Doctor Strange and
Spider-Man; and with Bill Everett, Daredevil. Signature: |
Stan Lee was born in the apartment of his Romanian-born Jewish immigrant parents, Celia and Jack Lieber, at the corner of West 98th Street and West End Avenue in Manhattan. His father, trained as a dress cutter, rarely worked after the Great Depression, and the family moved uptown to Fort Washington Avenue, in Washington Heights, Manhattan. When he was nine, his brother, Larry Lieber, was born. He said in 2006 that as a child, he was influenced by books and movies, especially the ones with Errol Flynn playing heroic roles. When he was a teenager, he and his family were living in a one-bedroom apartment at 1720 University Avenue in The Bronx. He described it as "a third-floor apartment facing out back", he and his brother were sharing the bedroom, and their parents were sharing a foldout couch.
Lee attended DeWitt Clinton High School in The Bronx. He was an avid reader, who enjoyed writing as a teen. He worked part-time jobs, such as: writing obituaries for a news service and press releases for the National Tuberculosis Center, delivering sandwiches for the Jack May pharmacy to offices in Rockefeller Center, working as an office boy for a trouser manufacturer, ushering at the Rivoli Theater on Broadway, and selling subscriptions to the New York Herald Tribune newspaper. He graduated high school early, at age 16 and a half in 1939.
With the help of his uncle, Robbie Solomon, who is the brother-in-law of Martin Goodman, Pulp magazine and comic book publisher, he became an assistant at the new Timely Comics division of Goodman's company. Timely Comics evolved to Marvel Comics by the 1960s.
Lee attended DeWitt Clinton High School in The Bronx. He was an avid reader, who enjoyed writing as a teen. He worked part-time jobs, such as: writing obituaries for a news service and press releases for the National Tuberculosis Center, delivering sandwiches for the Jack May pharmacy to offices in Rockefeller Center, working as an office boy for a trouser manufacturer, ushering at the Rivoli Theater on Broadway, and selling subscriptions to the New York Herald Tribune newspaper. He graduated high school early, at age 16 and a half in 1939.
With the help of his uncle, Robbie Solomon, who is the brother-in-law of Martin Goodman, Pulp magazine and comic book publisher, he became an assistant at the new Timely Comics division of Goodman's company. Timely Comics evolved to Marvel Comics by the 1960s.
Lee's first published work is "Captain America Foils the Traitor's Revenge" in Captain America Comics #3 (May 1941). He used the pseudonym "Stan Lee", which later would be adopted as his legal name. Lee later explained in his autobiography and numerous other sources that he wanted to save his given name for more literary work. This initial story also introduces Captain America's signature shield-toss.
Lee graduated from writing fillers to actual comics two issues later. Lee's first co-creation was the Destroyer, in Mystic Comics #6 (October 1941). Other characters he created during this period include Jack Frost and Father Time.
Lee joined the Army during WW2 in early 1942. He was writing manuals, making training films, creating slogans, and cartooning. He was one of the nine people to be given the title "playwright".
In 1961, Lee and Jack Kirby created the superhero team, Fantastic Four, to compete with rival DC Comics's Justice League of America. Due to the team's immediate popularity, Lee and other illustrators began working on other characters, including: Spider-Man, Hulk, the X-Men, Iron Man, Thor, and others.
In 2010, Stan Lee founded the Stan Lee Foundation. It is a non-profit organization that seeks to provide access to literacy, education, and the arts throughout the United States. Its goals include supporting programs and ideas that improve access to literacy resources, and promoting diversity, national literacy, culture, and the arts.
Stan Lee is married to Joan Clayton Boocock. He has 2 children, Joan Celia Lee (born in 1950), and Jan Lee (born in 1953). Unfortunately, Jan died 3 days after birth. Stan Lee lives in Southern California and continues to do cameos in several films portraying superheros that he created.
Lee joined the Army during WW2 in early 1942. He was writing manuals, making training films, creating slogans, and cartooning. He was one of the nine people to be given the title "playwright".
In 1961, Lee and Jack Kirby created the superhero team, Fantastic Four, to compete with rival DC Comics's Justice League of America. Due to the team's immediate popularity, Lee and other illustrators began working on other characters, including: Spider-Man, Hulk, the X-Men, Iron Man, Thor, and others.
In 2010, Stan Lee founded the Stan Lee Foundation. It is a non-profit organization that seeks to provide access to literacy, education, and the arts throughout the United States. Its goals include supporting programs and ideas that improve access to literacy resources, and promoting diversity, national literacy, culture, and the arts.
Stan Lee is married to Joan Clayton Boocock. He has 2 children, Joan Celia Lee (born in 1950), and Jan Lee (born in 1953). Unfortunately, Jan died 3 days after birth. Stan Lee lives in Southern California and continues to do cameos in several films portraying superheros that he created.