Doug Marlette began his cartooning career while a student at Seminole Community College where he worked on the student newspaper. He then went on to Florida State University where he drew political cartoons for The Florida Flambeau, from 1969 to 1971. FSU alum, nationally-known cartoonist dies - News He illustrated the 1970-1971 FSU yearbook, the "Tally Ho", including a wrap-around cover.

Marlette was the cartoonist for The Charlotte Observer (1972—1987), The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (1987—1989) for which he won a Pulitzer Prize in 1988, New York Newsday (1989—2002), The Tallahassee Democrat (2002—2006), and The Tulsa World (2006—2007).

In 2002, he drew criticism from Islamic groups for drawing a cartoon depicting Mohammed driving a Ryder van with missiles pointed out the back and the caption, "What would Mohammed drive?"

He wrote and drew the nationally syndicated comic strip Kudzu, which he started in 1981. Marlette collaborated with Bland Simpson and Jack Herrick of The Red Clay Ramblers on a musical adaptation of the Kudzu comic strip into Kudzu, A Southern Musical. Kudzu was syndicated worldwide.

His work appeared in TIME and Newsweek, along with newspapers such as The New York Times and The Washington Post.

He won every major award for editorial cartooning, including the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning, the National Headliner Award for Consistently Outstanding Editorial Cartoons (three times), the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Award for editorial cartooning (twice), and First Prize in the John Fischetti Memorial Cartoon Competition (twice). In 1981, he became the first and () the only cartoonist ever awarded a Nieman Fellowship.

Two days after Marlette's death, North Carolina Governor Michael F. Easley awarded him the honor of membership in the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, the highest civilian honor bestowed by the governor of North Carolina.

His Kudzu and editorial cartoons are collected in 19 volumes, including Faux Bubba: Bill and Hillary Go To Washington, Gone With The Kudzu, I Feel Your Pain!, What Would Marlette Drive?, and A Town So Backwards Even the Episcopalians Handle Snakes.

His 1991 book, In Your Face: A Cartoonist at Work, was his personal account of the cartooning process.

In 2001 his first novel, The Bridge, was published by HarperCollins. The Bridge was named Best Book of the Year for Fiction by the Southeast Booksellers Association (SEBA) in 2002.

In 2006 his second novel, Magic Time, was published by Sarah Crichton Books/Farrar, Straus & Giroux and received substantial critical praise, including a positive review in The New York Times Book Review.

Marlette served as Distinguished Visiting Professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the 2001-2002 academic year and was inducted into the UNC Journalism Hall of Fame in 2002. In 2006 he was appointed a Gaylord Distinguished Visiting Lecturer at the College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Oklahoma.

Marlette was born in Greensboro, North Carolina and graduated from Florida State University. He and his wife, Melinda Hartley Marlette, split their time between residences in Tulsa, Oklahoma and Hillsborough, North Carolina. Their son, Jackson, is an art student in France. Marlette also had a brother, Chris, and a sister, Marianne. His nephew, Andy Marlette, works as an editorial cartoonist for the Pensacola News Journal in Florida.

Marlette was a close friend of author Pat Conroy, speaking to him daily.

Marlette died in Marshall County, Mississippi, a passenger in a Toyota pickup truck that hydroplane and struck a tree in heavy rain; Marlette died instantly. He was traveling from Memphis International Airport to Oxford, Mississippi to help students at Oxford High School prepare for their performance of Kudzu, A Southern Musical at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Marlette died less than a week after he delivered the eulogy for his father, Elmer Monroe Marlette, in Charlotte, North Carolina. He was buried at Walnut Grove United Methodist Church near Hillsborough on July 14, 2007. Pat Conroy and Joe Klein eulogized him at the funeral, before an overflow crowd. There were 10 eulogists in all, and Conroy called Marlette his best friend and said, "The first person to cry, when he heard about Doug's death, was God."