Sam Gilman

Sam Gilman was doing the art thing way before WWII—Pratt Institute grad, Fine Art major, Theater minor, basically soaking up all the creative vibes. The guy hustled as an artist, inker, and penciller right there in the thick of the Comics Golden Age. He actually drew for the very first Marvel Comics #1—yeah, that one. He had his hands on all sorts of titles: Amazing Man, Masked Marvel, Super Spy, Vapo Man, Iron Skull, you name it. Then the war kicked off and Sam just dropped everything, signed up, and ended up in the camouflage corps over in Northern France, army staff sergeant and all. Not exactly the typical artist’s path. When the war was finally over, he headed back to New York and, instead of jumping straight back into comics, he threw himself into acting. NY theater was where he started crossing paths with some big names—Marlon Brando and Wally Cox. Here’s the twist: Sam was actually the seasoned one in the group, kind of the big brother figure. The three of them really clicked, became tight, the kind of friends you keep for life. Later, Marlon Brando talked Sam into heading west to Hollywood—he even beat Wally Cox out there—and that led to Sam snagging a little part (uncredited, but still) in The Men. Not a bad pivot for a guy who started out sketching superheroes, right?