George Gately created Heathcliff, the strip-cartoon cat, in 1973. He commented:

Before him, cats were depicted as either stupid of sinister, but cats are smart. Heathcliff represented the anti-hero like Humphrey Bogart. He is a tough mug.

I have a feeling that Gately liked cats and I think he had a passing resemblance to his creation:

George Gately the creator of Heathcliff the cartoon cat. Illustration by PoC from images deemed to be in the public domain.

Heathcliff was named after the character in Wuthering Heights by Emile Brontë. The cartooon cat steadily grew in popularity until by 1981 he was syndicated in more than 700 newspapers. He was the subject of two books: Heathcliff Banquet (1980) and Heathcliff Feast (1981). He also appeared on ABC television on Saturday morning cartoons.

His full name was George Gately Gallagher (December 21, 1928 – September 30, 2001) but was better known as George Gately.

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