Walter Lantz Autographs
Walter Benjamin Lantz (April 27, 1899 – March 22, 1994) was an American cartoonist, animator, producer and director best known for founding Walter Lantz Productions and creating Woody Woodpecker.
Lantz was born in New Rochelle, New York, to Italian immigrant parents Francesco Paolo Lantz (formerly Lanza) from Castiglione Cosentino, Italy and Maria Gervasi (changed to Jarvis to avoid prejudice) from Calitri. Walter's father ran a grocery. His mother, Maria, died while giving birth to Walter's younger brother, Michael Lantz. Walter's father, Francesco, soon became physically incapacitated leaving Walter to run the grocery store at a young age. According to Joe Adamson's biography The Walter Lantz Story, Lantz's father was given his new surname by an immigration official who anglicized it. Walter Lantz was always interested in art, completing a mail-order drawing class at age 12. He was inspired when he saw Winsor McCay's animated short "Gertie the Dinosaur".
While working as an auto mechanic, Lantz got his first break. Wealthy customer Fred Kafka liked his drawings on the garage's bulletin board and financed Lantz's studies at the Art Students League of New York. Kafka also helped him land a job as a copy boy at the New York American, owned by William Randolph Hearst. Lantz worked at the newspaper and attended art school at night.
Read more about Walter Lantz on Wikipedia
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Current items with a signature of Walter Lantz
These are the most current items with a signature of Walter Lantz that were listed on eBay and on other online stores - click here for more items.
Traded items with a signature of Walter Lantz
The most expensive item with a signature of Walter Lantz (CHARLES M. SCHULZ - ORIGINAL ART SIGNED CO-SIGNED BY: WALTER LANTZ) was sold in November 2025 for $1,702.49 while the cheapest item (Woody Woodpecker Dell Comic Vol. 1, #229 - AUTOGRAPHED by Walter Lantz - F/G) found a new owner for $0.99 in January 2025. The month with the most items sold (10) was November 2025 with an average selling price of $57.49 for an autographed item of Walter Lantz. Sold items reached their highest average selling price in December 2025 with $700.00 and the month that saw the lowest prices with $6.50 was March 2024. In average, an autographed item from Walter Lantz is worth $40.00.
Most recently, these items with a signature of Walter Lantz were sold on eBay - click here for more items.
