Alexander Hume Anderson Jr.^[1] (September 5, 1920 – October 22, 2010)^[1] was an American cartoonist who created the characters of Rocky the Flying Squirrel, Bullwinkle, and Dudley Do-Right, as well as Crusader Rabbit.^[2][3] He was not directly involved in The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, however.

Alexander Hume Anderson Jr. was born September 5, 1920, in Berkeley, California,^[1] to Olga B. (née Terry)^[4] and Alexander H. Anderson Sr. He attended the University of California, Berkeley, and the California School of Fine Arts in San Francisco.^[5] He received an honorary degree from San Francisco Art Institute in 2000.

Anderson was a nephew^[6] of Mighty Mouse producer Paul Terry, and began his career in 1938, working summer vacations, during college,^[7] at his Terrytoons animation studio.^[1] Anderson served in Navy intelligence during World War II.^[5]

Anderson pitched a "limited animation" cartoon series for TV to his uncle, Paul Terry, but 20th Century Fox, who distributed Terrytoons cartoons, saw TV as a threat.^[8]

After the war, Anderson and Jay Ward, a former real-estate salesman^[9] and childhood friend, formed a business in the late 1940s to pitch cartoon ideas to television, including Crusader Rabbit, Rocky, Bullwinkle, and Dudley Do-Right. In 1948, Anderson and Ward created a television pilot, "The Comic Strips of Television"^[10][11][12]

Only Crusader Rabbit was accepted, and after Anderson's other cartoon ideas failed to sell, he joined a San Francisco advertising agency, becoming an art director,^[5] while Ward moved to Los Angeles to try to sell TV studios on a Bullwinkle series.

Anderson saw a 1991 documentary about the show which did not mention his name, he filed suit against Jay Ward Productions, two years after Jay Ward's death.^[5] Anderson, who had not received public recognition for creating Dudley Do-Right, Bullwinkle and Rocky, learned the characters had been copyrighted in Ward's name alone.^[13] Consequently, Anderson sued Ward's heirs to reclaim creator credit.^[1] In 1993^[1] or 1996,^[13] (sources differ), Anderson received a settlement and a court order acknowledging him as "the creator of the first version of the characters of Rocky, Bullwinkle and Dudley."^[1]

Ted Key, creator of the comic strip Hazel, had a similar situation with his characters Mr. Peabody and his pet boy Sherman.^[14]

Anderson died due to complications of Alzheimer's disease at the age of 90 on October 22, 2010, at a nursing home in Carmel, California.^[1][15] He was survived by his wife of 36 years, Patricia Larsen Anderson, his third spouse following divorces from first wife Gail and second wife Beverly.^[1] He had two children from his first marriage, sons Terry and Scott, and three stepchildren, Matthew Kennedy, Carolyn Kennedy, and Daniel Kennedy.^[1][16]