Heathcliff the cartoon - just the bare facts

Heathcliff is a comic strip created by George Gately in 1973 featuring an eponymous cat. Now written and drawn by Gately's nephew, Peter Gallagher, it is distributed to over 1000 newspapers by Creators Syndicate.

Heathcliff has some similarities to the popular comic strip Garfield, which it predated. Both title cats are orange with black stripes, and noted for their bad temper; a "Beware of Cat" sign has been applied to both. However, the major difference between them is in their lifestyle. While Garfield prefers to eat and sleep all day, Heathcliff has a more active and mischievous lifestyle.

Heathcliff as seen in the strip is predisposed to annoying the manager of the fish store, tipping over garbage cans, annoying the milkman, and pursuing female cats. Heathcliff is also involved in a difficult relationship with the goateed owner of the house he lives in. He is, overall, an adventurous and fun-loving cartoon character. He is not predisposed towards apologizing for the endless situations he finds himself in the cartoon.

The strip is usually presented in single-panel gag frames on weekdays. On Sundays, though, the strip is expanded to multiple panels and titled Sunday with Heathcliff. A regular feature in the Sunday strips is Kitty Korner, where abnormal kittens in the real world are described.

In the mid-1980s, Heathcliff was also featured in a self-titled comic book series published by Marvel Comics under their child-friendly Star Comics imprint. A later spin-off comic, Heathcliff's Funhouse, was a combination of new material and reprinted stories that first appeared in the original Heathcliff title.

Two animated TV series with the same name were based on the strip - the first, in 1980, by Ruby-Spears Productions, which teamed him up with "Dingbat and the Creeps", an original creation by Ruby-Spears in the first season, then with fellow comic strip character Marmaduke in the second season. The second series was made in 1984 by DiC Entertainment, which paired the character up with original characters Cats and Co. (this series is often referred to as Heathcliff and The Catillac Cats to avoid confusion). In 1986, a best-of compilation of the DiC episodes was released into theaters (under the title Heathcliff: The Movie). The Ruby-Spears series can be seen occasionally on Boomerang, while the DiC series is not currently being shown on television.

Cast if you can call a cartoon selection so and so

Ruby-Spears Series
Mel Blanc as Heathcliff and Spike
June Foray as Iggy, Muggsy, Grandma, Sonja, and Marcy
Paul Winchell as Marmaduke
Henry Corden as Clem
Ted Zeigler as Grandpa
Hal Smith as Additional Voices
Avery Schreiber as Additional Voices
Alan Dinehart as Additional Voices
Don Messick as Additional Voices
Henry Corden as Additional Voices
Marilyn Schreffler as Additional Voices

DiC Series
Mel Blanc as Heathcliff
Derek McGrath as Spike, Muggsy and Knuckles
Marilyn Lightstone as Grandma and Sonja
Ted Zeigler as Leroy, Grandpa and Mungo
Donna Christie as Cleo and Iggy
Stan Jones as Riff Raff, Wordsworth and the Milkman
Jeannie Elias as Marcy and Willie
Danny Wells as Raul and Bush
Danny Mann as Hector and the Fish Market Proprietor
Peter Cullen additional voices

Credits

Ruby Spears Version
Executive Producers: Joe Ruby, Ken Spears
Directors: Charles A. Nichols, John Kimball
Story: Tony Benedict, Don Jurwich, Tom Dagenais, Gordon Kent, Jack Enyart, Kayte Kuch, Paul Haggis, Michael Maurer, Jack Hanrahan, Jim McNamara, Mark Jones, Sandy Sandifer, Mark Shiney
Supervising Story Direction: Gordon Kent
Story Direction: Emily Kong, Alex Lovy, Tom Minton
Voice Direction: Alan Dinehart
Title Song Sung by: Scatman Crothers
Heathcliff Created by: George Gately
Marmaduke Created by: Brad Anderson
Layout Supervision: Larry Huber
Layout: Peter Alvarado, Paul Gruwell, Wayne Becker, Mario Piluso, Kathleen Carr, Bill Reed, Jaime Diaz, Wallace Sides, Hak Ficq, Robert Zamboni, Ian McKenzie
Background Layout Supervision: David High
Background Layout: John F. Guerin, Bruce Zick
Model Supervision: Ric Gonzalez
Models: Alan B. Huck
Animation Supervision: Al Gaviota, Bill Reed
Background Styling: Eric Semones
Color Key: Bunny Semones
Titles: Bill Perez
Lettering: Bob Schaefer
Graphics: Iraj Paran, Tom Wogatzke
Production Coordinator: Loretta High
Animation Checking: Stephen Carr, Patty Burns, Patricia Blackburn, Norell Nixon
Assistants to the Executive Producers: Erika Grossbart, Kayte Kuch
Production Assistants: Joyce Benson, Bryna Melnick, Cathy Rose, Debby Ruby, Teri Taylor
Studio Manager: Jeff Cooke
Music: Dean Elliott
Supervising Film Editor: Chip Yaras
Effects Editors: Karla McGregor, Kevin Spears
Music Editor: Mark Shiney
Negative Cutter: Mary Nelson
Laboratory: C.F.I.
Re-Recording: T.V.R.

DiC Version
Series 1

Heathcliff Created by: George Gately
Cats & Co. Created by: Jean Chalopin, Bruno Bianchi
Developed by: Jean Chalopin
Assisted by: Alan Swayze, Chuck Lorre
Head Writer: Alan Swayze
Writers: Ann Elder, Chuck Lorre, Charles Mulholland, Doug Booth, George Hampton, Laura Numeroke, Cynthia Chenault, Jack Hanrahan, Mike O'Mahony, Dan Dalton, Pamela Hickey, Leslie Page, Eliot Dado, Walt Kulmak, Larry Parr, Mike Diman, Drew Lawrence, Bob Rosenfarb, Wilma Fraser, Jim Makichuk, David Schwartz, Evelyn Gabai, Dennys McCoy, Mike Silvann, Mel Gilden, Mike Moore, Bob Wilson
Cats & Co. Character Designs Developed by: Bruno Bianchi, Christian Choquet, Byron Vaughns
Assisted by: Stephan Martinere, Jean Maxime-Perramon, John Kricfalusi, Kit Harper, Lynne Naylor
Senior Storyboard Artists: Zlatko Grigg, Andrew Knight, David Marshall
Storyboards by: John Armstrong, Jon Bars, Alex Rami, Glenn Schwartz, Phil Baldont, Glen Hill, Hal Mason, Swinton Scott, Cullen Blaine, Larry Houston, Dan McHugh, Roy Shiszedo, Ken Boyer, Chris Jenkyns, Darryl McNeil, Jim Simon, Marek Buchwald, Victoria Jonson, James Nics, Mike Sanger, Jeff Jones, Rich Chidlaw, Bruce Morris, Dan St. Pierre, Eddie Fitzgerald, Lin Larsen, Floyd Norman, Mike Swanigan, Fernando Gonzalez, Tom Taranowicz, Norm Gottfredson, Jan Green, Alex Lovey, Leonard Anderson, Sean Turner, Gordon Harrison, Mike Maliani, Phil Robinson,
Production Coordination by: Shiro Aono, W.R. Kowalchuk Jr., Dick Brown, Victor Villegas, Mitsuya Fujimoto, James Wang
Animation Production Manager: Shigeru Akagawa
Associate Producer: Diana Dru Brotsford
Key Animators: Jureo Abe, Seln Okada, Kenichi Adaln, Rasae Otake, Kado Furanoki, Kazuko Shirata, Michi Hinendo, Keiko Skirai
Animation: Araki Production, Mushi Production, Studio Korumi, Studio Take
Layout: Norogu Ferose, Benji Kodana,
Shooting Director: Katschi Misawa
Backgrounds: Kazue Ito, Kosyou Ito, Yukidiro Kayamura, Yoshiyuki Ochbia
Color Direction: Meiko Hirayama
Art Directors: Mosoro Tatsuke, Kajime Soga
Editing: Masatoshi Tsurybichi, Torono Takahashi
Voice Direction by: Marsha Goodman
Talent Coordination by: Joellyn Marlow
Music by: Shuki Levy, Haim Saban
Supervising Director: Bruno Bianchi
Post Production Supervisor: W.R. Kowalchuck Jr.
Post Production Services by: Animation City Editorial Services Ltd
Sound Editing Supervisor: Terry Burke
Music Editing Supervisor: Marty Wereski
Re-Recorded at: The Filmhouse Group (Toronto Canada)
Re-Recordist: Jack Heeren
Editors: Barry Gilmore, Kirk Davies, Mike MacLeherty, Tim Roberts, Arnie Stewart, Karl Zittler
Sound Engineering by: Michael Cochran
Muldoon Operator: Walt Stergeon
Animation Coordinator: Don Spencer
Animation Directors: Shingo Arani, Shuji Yuchi, Yukaya Ono, Alan Swayze, Cullen Blaine, Yoshio Karashiwa, Mikeo Gato, Koezo Masanumbo, Fukido Tashimbo, Sasuru Kasumoto,
Associate Supervising Director: Yoshiyuki Hidgka
Assistants to the Supervising Director: Michael Maliani, Woody Yogum
Timing Director: Walt Kubiak
Produced by: Jean Chalopin, Denys Heroux
Assisted by: Lori Crawford
Executive Producers: Jean Chalopin, Andy Heyward, Tetsuo Katayama

Movie
Heathcliff: The Movie was released January 17, 1986. It includes 7 segments of the original show including: Heathcliff the TV Star, Heathcliff's Double, Siamese Twins, Obdience School, The Catfather, Boom Boom Pussini, and Pop's Parole. Voices included: Mel Blanc, Donna Christie, Peter Cullen, Jeannie Elias, Derek McGrath, and Marilyn Schreffler. It is now on DVD under DiC Entertainment.

Trivia
On the Nickelodeon show CatDog, one of the greaser dogs' name was Cliff, which is a parody of Heathcliff.
Swedish comic book author Simon Gärdenfors is a Heathcliff collector and fan. He even made a comic about Heathcliff, which was published in the Scandinavian edition of Vice magazine.
Heathcliff is known as "Katten Nisse" (Nisse the Cat) in Sweden and as "Kattimatti" in Finland.
In Spain and Italy, Heathcliff´s name has been changed to "Isidoro".
For whatever reason, two versions of the Heathcliff (DiC series) theme song were made. The two only differ in the repeating chorus. The original chorus goes: Heathcliff, Heathcliff no-one should, terrify their neighborhood/But Heathcliff just won't be outdone, playing pranks on everyone, the altered version goes: Cats and company have fun, playing pranks on everyone. The latter has only appeared in the VHS releases of the cartoon, (though it was also seen in reruns on cable).
Although Heathcliff was a silent protagonist in the comic strip, both animated versions of him was voiced by legendary voice actor Mel Blanc. Heathcliff was the last of Blanc's many original characters.
In both the strip and the first series, Heathcliff's human buddy, Iggy Nutmeg, was drawn as a blonde kid in normal street clothes and a red baseball cap. In the DiC animated series, however, Iggy was drawn as a brunette in a somewhat nerdy get-up (looking strikingly similar to Mac from Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends). Similarly, Heathcliff's female human pal, Marcy, was drawn in the strip as a normal girl with brown hair, a green skirt and has a bow in her hair. In the animated series, Marcy was still drawn as a normal girl, but with blonde hair and a bow and a blue t-shirt and a pink skirt, and instead of white socks, she had purple. Why exactly these character design changes were made is unknown.
In Australia, Heathcliff was one of Network Ten's last 1980s shows.

Nobody has ever alleged him to have been the chief assasin in the killing of JFK, though some have blamed him for just about everything else. JFK was a great movie, I watch it allot.
On the DiC series, Heathcliff had three buddies who live in a trash can named Knuckles, Raul (a voice like Jeff Foxworthy) and Lefty, in at least some episodes, his buddies were Mungo, Hector and Wordsworth.
"Crazy Shirley", a character from the comics (who is madly in love with Heathcliff) made at least one appearance in the Ruby-Spears series; she is never seen in the DiC series.
Heathcliff was parodied in an episode of Robot Chicken, in which he got into a fight with Garfield. Although Heathcliff lost, Garfield was shot instantly by a cat who hated his jokes.

To date there have only been DVD releases of the DiC series, the Ruby-Spears series has yet to been released on DVD.

UAV Entertainment released two 9-episode collections of Heathcliff and the Catillac Cats on February 24, 2004- Heathcliff- Fish Tales & Heathcliff- Terror of the Neighbourhood
On September 20, 2005, Shout! Factory released a 4-Disc boxset featuring 24 episodes of Heathcliff and the Catillac Cats on DVD for the very first time.

The 10 most famous fictional Americans The 10 most famous aliens The 10 Most famous fictional Scottish_people

A map of where different US films & TV programmes blanket across the USA are

A Great index of Comedy & joke sites, 100s of jokes, are 1 click away,

The favourite foods of famous fictional characters

A site stating which animals would be best at football, it is comical, with 2 teams competing, for the prize of the best animal soccer side

A recipe site DELICOUS DISHES

A game where you have to play to win a US style presidential election, if you win you become the president & if you lose you lose, great fun.

A Multimedia Centre for World TV channels, you click on the TV & you get their website or U Tube style TV website

A game where you are the candidate for the leadership of the British Tory Party in 1990, I am not a Tory, but this election was the most exiting election in Britain in the past couple of decades so why not play it

Some great jokes, on many subjects Another page of more & more & The Joke encyclopedia & some more jokes

A site postulating that Neanderthals & animals like them survived to the modern era. I am not saying I believe this, though it is interesting.

Some poems about Zanadu, or Xanadu, including mine