What Was Albert Uderzo's Net Worth?
Albert Uderzo was a French comic book artist and scriptwriter who had a net worth of $50 million at the time of his death in 2020. Albert Uderzo was best known for his "Astérix" series. He chose the location for the village in the series based on Brittany, France, where he spent a year as a teenager. After World War II, Albert started his career as an artist in Paris. He created comics such as Flamberge, Clopinard, Belloy, and Arys Buck.
In 1951, Uderzo met Rene Goscinny. The pair worked together at World Press in Paris, and they created the characters Jehan Pistolet, Luc Junior, and Oumpah-pah. In 1959, Albert became artistic director of "Pilote" magazine. The first issue of the magazine introduced the character Astérix. The pair decided to dedicate their careers to Astérix and not the other characters. In addition to "Astérix," Uderzo wrote what was turned into the TV series "The Aeronauts," which aired from 1967 to 1970. Albert was colorblind and would frequently draw himself and Goscinny into the Asterix comics, usually as anonymous Roman soldiers. He was awarded the Knight of the Legion of Honour and the Knight of the Order of the Netherlands Lion. In 2005, he was inducted into the Eisner Award Hall of Fame. Uderzo passed away on March 24, 2020, at the age of 92.
Early Life
Albert Uderzo was born Alberto Aleandro Uderzo on April 25, 1927, in Fismes, France. He is the fourth child of Italian immigrants Silvio Uderzo and Iria Uderzo. His parents had met in La Spezia, Italy, where his father had been recovering after he had been wounded in his service for the Royal Italian Army during World War I. The couple got married and moved to France with their first two children and then had their other children in France. One of Uderzo's brothers, Marcel, also became a cartoonist. They settled in the suburbs of Paris and suffered from some racism against Italian immigrants in France at the time.
Uderzo was interested in the arts from a young age. While in primary school, his talent for drawing was noticed. He also came into contact with American comics and animated cartoons like Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. He did not do particularly well in school except in areas related to sketching and the arts. Albert later finished his basic education at the age of 13 and decided to pursue aircraft engineering. However, he ultimately did not pursue this path, instead choosing to focus on his drawing.
Career
Uderzo spent the early years of his career working on various projects and traveling. In 1951, he met René Goscinny. The two men became good friends and began to work together in 1952 at the newly opened Paris office of the Belgian company World Press. Their first creations together were the characters Oumpah-pah, Jehan Pistolet, and Luc Junior. In 1958, they adapted "Oumpah-pah" for serial publication in the Franco-Belgian comics magazine, "Tintin." It ran there until 1962. Additionally, in 1959, Goscinny and Uderzo became editor and artistic director, respectively, of "Pilote" magazine, a new magazine aimed at older children. The magazine's first issue introduced the character of Astérix to the French world. It was an instant hit.
"Astérix" was serialized in "Pilote," and in 1961, the first story, "Astérix le Gaulois," was published as an individual album. Over the next 16 years, new volumes of "Astérix" were regularly published by the duo. This continued until Goscinny's sudden death in 1977. Afterward, Uderzo continued to write and illustrate the books on his own. He published them using his own publishing house, Albert René, though he worked at a significantly slower pace than he had when collaborating with Goscinny. He published around one edition every three to five years while he had previously published two editions per year while working with Goscinny.
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Uderzo also worked with his brother, Marcel, on "Astérix." Marcel did some of the drawing and coloring on about twelve of the cartoon's albums. Uderzo continued working until his retirement in 2011, at which time "Astérix" was taken over by Jean-Yves Ferri, who wrote the script, and Didier Conrad, who created the art.
Over the course of his career, Albert earned a number of awards and accolades. In 1985, he was awarded the Knight of the Legion of Honour. In 1999, he was awarded the Grand Prix de la ville d'Angoulême. In 2004, he was acknowledged for outstanding life's work and won the Max & Moritz Prize. The following year, he was inducted into the Eisner Award Hall of Fame in the United States. In 2006, Uderzo was awarded the Knight of the Order of the Netherlands Lion. In 2013, he was awarded the Officer of the Legion of Honour. According to UNESCO's Index Translationum, he is the 10th most often translated French language author and the third most often translated French language comics author.
Personal Life and Death
In 1953, Uderzo married Ada Milani. They had a daughter, Sylvie, in 1956. Albert and his daughter later worked together as Sylvie began managing his estate along with her husband. In 2007, he fired the two as managers of his estate and instead agreed to sell his share of Editions Albert Rene, which included the "Astérix" comics, to Hachette Livre. While Uderzo had previously stated that "Astérix" would end upon his death, the sale to Hachette permitted the company to continue producing it indefinitely, even if Uderzo did not participate. His daughter then sued, but the two ultimately settled out of court amicably.
On March 24, 2020, Uderzo died in his sleep at his home in Neuilly-sur-Seine after he suffered a heart attack. His death was not linked to COVID-19, as he had reportedly been feeling ill for several weeks prior to his death.
