The inventor of Bob Sponge is dead – news.ORF.at

The creator of cartoon character SpongeBob Squarepants, Stephen Hillenburg, is deceased. The marine biologist graduated in cartoon died at 57 years of the consequences of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), announced the US channel Nickelodeon gesterm.

Hillenburg developed, wrote and produced the animated series launched in 1999. There was even a Broadway show with the slightly silly square sponge that lives with more marine life in the city of Bikini Bottom, deep in the background. 39; ocean. The series has had great popularity in the United States, but also in the German-speaking countries.

According to "Variety", nearly 250 episodes of the series have been broadcast and translated into more than 60 languages. Hillenburg also wrote and produced the 2004 and 2015 SpongeBob films. A third film was planned for 2020.