Pat Oliphant

Patrick Bruce Oliphant (24 July 1935 – 13 July 2026) was an Australian-born American political cartoonist whose career spanned more than 60 years. His body of work primarily focused on American and global politics, culture, and corruption; he is particularly known for his caricatures of American presidents and other powerful leaders. Over the course of his long career, Oliphant produced thousands of daily editorial cartoons, dozens of bronze sculptures, and a large oeuvre of drawings and paintings. He retired in 2015. Oliphant was born on 24 July 1935, in Maylands, a suburb of Adelaide, Australia, to Donald Knox Oliphant and Grace Lillian Oliphant (née Price) of Rosslyn Park. Patrick grew up in a three-room cabin in Aldgate, in the Adelaide Hills, with no electricity or running water in a desert of snakes and scorpions. He attended a one-room schoolhouse and hated formal education. His father worked as a draftsman for Australia's Ministry of Lands, and Oliphant credited him with sparking his interest in drawing. His early education took place in a one-room schoolhouse, followed by Unley High School. In 1952, while still a teenager, Oliphant began his career in journalism as a copy boy at Adelaide's evening tabloid newspaper, The News, which had recently been inherited by Rupert Murdoch.