Hilda Terry

Hilda Terry
Hilda Terry in 1947.
Born	Theresa Hilda Fellman June 15, 1914 Newburyport, Massachusetts
Died	October 13, 2006 New York, New York
Nationality	American
Area(s)	Cartoonist
Notable works	Teena
Awards	National Cartoonists Society Animation Award, 1979 Friends of Lulu Women Cartoonists Hall of Fame, 2001

Theresa Hilda D’Alessio (June 15, 1914 – October 13, 2006), better known as Hilda Terry, was an American cartoonist who created the comic strip Teena. It ran in newspapers from 1944 to 1964. After marriage, she usually signed her name Theresa H. D’Alessio. In 1950, she became the first woman allowed to join the National Cartoonists Society.

Born Theresa Hilda Fellman in Newburyport, Massachusetts, she was the daughter of a man who lettered roulette wheels. She admired the sports cartoons of Willard Mullin, wanted to become a sports cartoonist and spent time sketching at sports events. She arrived in New York when she was 17 and spent two years working as a waitress at Schrafft's. During the mid-1930s, she reconsidered her career plan after she entered both a sports cartoon and a funny cartoon in a newspaper contest, winning a prize with the funny cartoon.

While working as a waitress, she studied fashion illustration at the Art Students League. One of her teachers there was Gregory d'Alessio, and they married in 1938. When a 14-year-old cousin arrived for a visit, Terry got the idea for Teena. The strip began July 1, 1944.

She led an active life during the late 1940s, serving as a Camp Fire guardian, a Blue Bird leader, a Horizon Club advisor and an American Youth Hosteler, once leading a group of girls on a ten-day bicycle trip through New England.

Comics historian Tom Spurgeon detailed how she broke through barriers at the once all-male National Cartoonists Society in 1950:

Once she was a member of the NCS, she proposed Gladys Parker and other women cartoonists for memberships.

She drew portraits of ballplayers for baseball stadium scoreboards in the early 1970s and subsequently became a pioneer in early computer animation. She traveled from city to city to create her giant animated portraits of major league players and team mascots.