Alex Raymond

Alexander Gillespie Raymond was born on October 2, 1909 in New Rochelle, New York, to Beatrice Wallazz (Crossley) and Alexander Gillespie Raymond, a civil engineer and road builder, who encouraged his drawing from an early age. His sister, Beatrice, was the paternal grandmother of actors Matt Dillon and Kevin Dillon. He was of Irish, Scottish, and German descent. Raymond studied art and illustration at the Grand Central School of Art in New York City. In the 1930s, he began a series of illustrating jobs "ghosting" such comic strips as "Tillie the Toiler" and "Blondie". In 1933, Raymond and writer Don Moore were asked to develop a comic strip to compete with the popular character "Buck Rogers". Their creation, "Flash Gordon", was an immediate success, spawning a number of Saturday morning serials, television series and feature films. Raymond also created a strip with mystery writer Dashiell Hammett, "Secret Agent X-9", and worked on both strips simultaneously. During this period, Raym