Stephen Hillenburg, the creator of "SpongeBob", is dead

The creator of the cartoon SpongebobStephen Hillenburg died Monday at the age of 57 from a neurodegenerative disease, announced Tuesday, November 27, the American channel Nickelodeon, broadcaster of the animation series that generated billions of dollars in revenue.

Stephen We are sad to share the news of the pbading of Stephen Hillenburg, the creator of SpongeBob SquarePants. Today, w … https://t.co/JcTnbf9bTb

– Nickelodeon (@Nickelodeon)

Launched in 1999, Spongebob features a naively optimistic character living at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean in the town of Bikini Bottom. Broadcast in more than 150 countries, the cartoon has been hugely successful, to the point that new episodes continue to be produced, almost twenty years after the first broadcast.

Spongebob has also been adapted to the cinema, with two first components (the first written and directed by Hillenburg) that have brought in more than $ 475 million worldwide, according to the specialized website Box Office Mojo. A third feature film is planned for 2020.

The nice sponge, perpetually dressed in beige pants too short, a white shirt and a red tie, also enjoyed the honors of Broadway, with a musical played in New York from December 2017 to September 2018.

Read also: "Worms": a variant in verse (of earth) of "SpongeBob"

Sense of humor and innocence

As of March 2017, Hillenburg had reported amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or Charcot disease, a neurodegenerative disease for which there is no treatment. He had also expressed his intention to continue working on the series, despite the illness.

"We are incredibly sad", reacted the Nickelodeon channel in a statement. "Steve had imbued SpongeBob with a unique sense of humor and innocence that has brought joy to generations of children and families everywhere."continued the channel, which owes its best audiences to this yellow sponge to the teeth of happiness.

Pbadionate about the oceans, Stephen Hillenburg began his professional career in 1984 as a professor of marine biology in Dana Point, California. He then had to move towards animation. By 1993, he had created a first animated series for Nickelodeon, Rocko's Modern Life, before creating Spongebob.

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