After coming home from the Korean War, Donald Levine wanted to make a figure as a way to honor soldiers fighting all over the world. What resulted was the first ever ‘action hero’ called G.I. Joe…
Long before G.I. Joe was a popular 1980’s cartoon or film series starring Channing Tatum, it was the world’s first ‘action figure’ created by Hasbro executive Donald Levine after he came back from war in Korea and wanted a way to honor his fellow soldiers.
He helped to design the original figure, which stood over 11 inches tall and had 21 movable parts. The original G.I. Joe was released in 1964 for $4 each.
To this day, G.I. Joe remains one of the best selling toy lines of all time with offspring including several TV shows, movies and comic books as well.
Levine died of cancer at the age of 86 and he is survived by his wife Nan as they were preparing to celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary together at the time of his passing.
