Bil Keane's warm, humorous portraits of the intimate moments in family life, based on his own real-life family circus, have charmed readers around the world since 1960.

Today, The Family Circus is the most widely syndicated comic panel in the world, appearing in 1,500 newspapers.

The daily panels are routinely drawn within a circle, meant to underscore the sense of closeness between the characters. They include mum Thel, dad Bill and the kids Billy, Dolly, Jeffy and the toddler PJ.  There are also some pets; Kitty the cat and the dogs Barfy and Sam.  The mother-in-law makes the occasional appearance.

While Keane's cartoon kids have stayed the same age, his real kids have grown up and two followed in their father's creative footsteps. Glen, who served as the model for the Billy character, is now a prominent animator for The Walt Disney Company. He designed and animated the Beast for Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" and most recently did the brilliant animation on Tarzan. Jeff works as his dad's assistant on the comic panel. And today, nine grandchildren provide the cartoonist with a whole new generation of ideas.