Michael Mallory

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This article is about the author. For the character on Sliders see Recurring characters of Sliders.

Michael Mallory (born November 28, 1955 in Port Huron, Michigan) is a recognized authority on the subjects of animation and post-war pop culture, and the author of the books Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Marvel: The Characters and Their Universe and X-Men: The Characters and Their Universe. As an animation historian he has written hundreds of articles and was featured in a documentary about the making of the film Prince of Egypt for British television, as well as on the extra features for the DVD sets for the 1970s animated series Wait Till Your Father Gets Home and the third volume of Tom and Jerry cartoons. Mallory also writes murder mysteries -- including the 2004 novel Murder in the Bath, which features his signature character Amelia Watson, the second wife of Doctor Watson of Sherlock Holmes renown -- and stories for children. The second Mrs. Watson (whose existence was intimated, but never spelled out, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle) also features in many of the author's short stories. Mallory was raised in Pontiac, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. He received a degree in Speech at Drury College (now Drury University) in Springfield, Missouri, and after a stint as a radio newscaster in Springfield relocated to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. He made numerous appearances on the local stage and played bit roles in films such as Frances, Staying Alive and Eleanor: First Lady of the World (all 1982) and on television in Days of our Lives, Santa Barbara and General Hospital, as well as a handful of commercials. Mallory transitioned from acting to writing in the late 1980s and for a while served as a show writer for Disneyland. He was the recipient of a Derringer Award for Best Flash (short-short) Mystery Story in 1997 and has twice been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Since the mid-1990s he has been the principal writer for the annual Annie Awards ceremony in Los Angeles, the animation industry's equivalent of the Oscars.