[3] Born in Troy, New York, Hidley lost his father during boyhood and was relocated by his mother to NYC in the 1930s.
Young Charlie shortened his nickname to "Li" in these years, and was known by that moniker for the rest of his life.
[4] During World War II he served as an Army Staff Sergeant, stationed in Panama from 1942-45.
He worked as a librarian at Cooper Union and as a security guard at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
He was an avid reader of Jungian thought and mythology, themes that are prominent in his paintings.