Film animator, cartoonist, author.
Born at Winnipeg on 29 August 1890, son of Stefan Thorarinssson (Thorson) and Sigridur Thorarinsdottir, brother of Joseph Thorarinn Thorson, his only schooling occurred at Mulvey School. He worked as a bank clerk in Saskatchewan, a fisherman on Lake Winnipeg, a coal miner in Alberta, and a lumberjack in British Columbia.
On 11 October 1914, he married Rannveig Sigridur “Ranka” Swanson (1895-1916) and they had a son, Karl Thorson (1914-1917). On 19 May 1922, he married Ada Albina Teslock (?-?) and they had two sons: Karl “Charlie” Thorson (1923-1923) and Stephen Charles Thorson (1925-2005). The couple separated in 1928 and divorced in 1931. During this time, he worked as an illustrator for the Eaton’s catalogues.
In 1935, he moved with his son to Hollywood, California where he worked as a Disney Studios character designer. He has been credited with the creation of Snow White, based on a Winnipeg waitress he had met in the 1920s. He also worked at Warner Brothers, and is credited there with the creation of Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd. In the 1940s he returned to Winnipeg where he created and drew the cartoon character Punkinhead, featured for many years in childrens’ booklets produced by Eaton’s.
He retired to Haney, British Columbia in 1956 and died at Vancouver on 7 August 1966. He was buried in the Mountain View Cemetery. A collection of his artwork is held at the University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections.
See also:
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Thorson Cottage (Fourth Avenue, Gimli)
Review: Gene Walz, Cartoon Charlie: The Life and Art of Animation Pioneer Charles Thorson by Marilyn Baker
Manitoba History, Number 37, Spring / Summer 1999Events in Manitoba History: Elmer the Safety Elephant
Cartoon Charlie: The Life and Art of Animation Pioneer Charles Thorson by Gene Walz, Winnipeg: Great Plains Publications, 1998.
1901 Canada census, Automated Genealogy.
Birth, marriage, and death registrations, Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Death registration [Charles Gustav Thorson], British Columbia Vital Statistics.
“Charles G. Thorson” by Joseph Thorson, The Icelandic Canadian, Summer 1967, page 68-71.
Dictionary of Manitoba Biography by John M. “Jack” Bumsted, Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, December 1999, 288 pages.
Obituary [Stephen Charles Thorson], Victoria Times Colonist, 4 February 2005.
Charlie Thorson Fonds, University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 7 December 2025
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