Frank Bellamy was born in 1917 in Northamptonshire, England. He began illustrating strip cartoons in 1953, drawing "Mickey Mouse Weekly" and "Swift" before joining "Eagle" in 1957. After working as part of lead artist Frank Hampson's studio team, he was chosen to take over the "Dan Dare" strip in 1960 when Hampson quit. Bellamy had never been entirely comfortable at Eagle and only agreed to illustrate "Dan Dare" for one year. However in that year he produced superb artwork, and became as associated with the "Dan Dare" strip as its creator.

After his stint on "Dan Dare" Bellamy went on to draw other strips for Eagle as well as other comic strip work, including illustrating Doctor Who for the Radio Times and "Thunderbird Comics", based on the British TV show. In 1971 he took over the popular "Garth" science fiction strip in the British newspaper, the "Daily Mirror".

Bellamy received the "Foreign Comics Award" from the American Academy for Strip Art.

Frank Bellamy died of a heart attack on July 5th, 1976.

written by Andy Etris 2000