John Cullen Murphy, 85; Illustrator Known for ‘Prince Valiant’ Strip

John Cullen Murphy, 85, illustrator best known for the “Prince Valiant” cartoon strip, died Friday in Greenwich, Conn. of unspecified causes.

Interested in art from an early age, Murphy took classes at the Art Institute of Chicago when he was 9. A neighbor, Norman Rockwell, asked him to model for a “Saturday Evening Post” cover and became his mentor, helping him win a scholarship to the Phoenix Art Institute in New York.

Murphy drew “Prince Valiant” for more than three decades, retiring last March. At that time he turned over the work to his chosen successor, illustrator Gary Gianni of Chicago. The strip distributed by King Features Syndicate appears weekly in about 300 newspapers.

For many years, family members assisted Murphy in producing the strip. His son, Cullen, editor of the Atlantic Monthly, wrote scripts and his daughter, Mairead “Meg” Nash, did the strip’s lettering and coloring.