Edward Gorey Google Doodle
Eccentric author and illustrator Edward Gorey, who died in 2000, would have been 88 today and is celebrated in Friday's Google Doodle. Google

Google is commemorating Edward Gorey's birthday with a doodle depicting grim works from the celebrated American author and illustrator.

Having passed away April 15, 2000, at the age of 75 from a heart attack, Gorey would have been 88 today. Gorey is best known for his macabre illustrations that garnered him a worldwide cult following and inspired the likes of film director Tim Burton and goth rock band Nine Inch Nails.

Gorey did illustration for such works as "Dracula" by Bram Stoker, "The War of the Worlds" by H. G. Wells and "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats" by T. S. Eliot.

His own works often feature children or wayward characters that ultimately suffer undeserved deaths. Well-known titles by the author include “The Unstrung Harp,” “The Doubtful Guest” and the “The Gashlycrumb Tinies.”

He also did stage design for “Dracula” on Broadway for which he won a Tony award in 1978, as well as his own play “Amphigorey.”

The Chicago native graduated from Harvard University in 1946 and notably worked for publishing company Doubleday.

In the doodle, Gorey is seen sitting in the “G” among two cats and drawing the bird-like creature from “The Doubtful Guest,” while other animal characters, drawn in his style, lounge about on the rest of the word.

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