Page "Peyo" Paragraph 8

The merchandising of the Smurfs began in 1959, with the PVC figurines as the most important aspect until the late 1970s.

Then, with the success of the Smurf records by Father Abraham, the Smurfs achieved more international success, with a new boom in toys and gadgets.

Some of these reached the United States, where Hanna-Barbera created a Saturday morning animated series in 1981 in which Peyo served as story supervisor.

Peyo's health began to fail.

He died at age 64, on Christmas Eve 1992, of a heart attack in Brussels.

His studio still exists and new stories for various series are regularly produced under his name.