The Men With No Credit ~ Fred Otnes (ILLUSTRATOR)

By Mike Ferguson

Born Fred Otnes on December 3, 1925, in Junction City Kansas, United States. In the late 1940's he began creating illustrations for advertisements and magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post and Collier’s. Later illustrated Movie posters, U.S. postage stamps and album covers. Did the covers for many of the Mad Magazine. Best remembered for the 1967 Saturday Evening Post cover of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy's motorade, overshadowed by the silhouette of a sniper. He worked with David Blossom, Bernie Fuchs, Mitchell Hooks & Ted CoConis at United Artists on the "The Man with No Name" campaign (sources conflict on who did what). He is said to have drawn the poster for A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS. Later became an instructor with the Illustrators Workshop in New York. During the mid 1980’s Mr. Otnes concentrated on creating work for the finer art galleries. He was represented by the Reece Galleries in New York who staged several successful exhibitions of his work. Died July 28, 2015, in Westport, Connecticut,. Survived by longtime friend Marlene Tate-Tower. His work can be seen in "The Art of Bernie Fuchs" (The Illustrated Press, 2017).