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LOS ANGELES (AP) -- As Dr. Seuss neared the end of his life, the children's author told his wife that she would have to look after the Cat in the Hat, the Lorax, the Grinch and all the beloved characters he created.
It was a mission Audrey Geisel embraced for more than a quarter-century. As overseer of Dr. Seuss' prolific and lucrative literary estate, she carefully guarded the whimsical works of the writer and illustrator less known as Theodor Geisel and expanded the Seuss legacy. She promoted a highly profitable multimedia brand, from books and films to theme park rides and the Broadway show "Seussical."
Audrey Geisel, 97, died Wednesday at her home in the La Jolla section of San Diego, Random House Children's Books announced.
Geisel, who founded Dr. Seuss Enterprises, said she took to heart the responsibility her husband left her when he died in 1991.
"You keep a firm control as if they really were your children," Geisel told The Associated Press in 1998. "I don't want the Cat in a bad part of town, so to speak."
But she went far beyond keeping a tight grip on the empire. She broadly expanded it beyond what her husband cared to do while creating his 47 children's stories.
And, oh, the places she went with it.
More than 10 million Dr. Seuss books sell each year and new works are coming out, such as last spring's "Dr. Seuss's First 100 words," Random House said.
Geisel is credited as executive producer of the animated film "The Grinch," which was released last month and tapped Benedict Cumberbatch to voice the title character.
A poll conducted by AP-NORC earlier this month put "The Grinch" just behind "It's a Wonderful Life" of favorite holiday films or television. It didn't specify if it was the Carrey version or the animated 1966 classic produced by Chuck Jones and narrated by Boris Karloff.
The movies have been lucrative with the recent "Grinch" production earning $245 million, according to Comscore.
Animated film versions of "The Lorax" raked in $214 million and "Horton Hears a Who" made $154 million.