- Retired in 1985, but "Brenda Starr" is still running. It is now written by Mary Schmich and drawn by June Brigman.
- Cartoonist; created character Brenda Starr.
- Married and divorced twice.
Was seriously injured in a car accident. - Mother of Starr Rohrman of Sonoma County; grandmother of Curt and Laura.
- Long-running comic strip "Brenda Starr, Reporter" ran in 250 newspapers at its peak in the 1950s.
- Brenda Starr was named after a 1930s debutante, and her curvaceous figure and red hair were inspired by actress Rita Hayworth. Her beau, the mysterious Basil St John, was based on a handsome artist hired by Messick to do lettering. She had to fire him because he did a poor job.
- Male readers wrote to Messick, assuming that Dale was a man and asking for private sketches of Brenda that were racier than those in the newspapers. She send one such fan a drawing of Brenda going over Niagara Falls in a barrel, with the note "Is this daring enough?".
- She studied art and got a job at a greeting-card company, while working on her comic strips at night.
- Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume 7, 2003-2005, pages 368-369. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2007.
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