BILL MELENDEZ: THE MAN THAT BROUGHT SNOOPY TO LIFE

First Jerry Reed, than Don LaFontaine and today I sadly report that animator, Bill Melendez has passed on. If you are not familiar with his name, you've probably seen it in the credits after everyone of the Peanuts half hour holiday specials that he animated. While he worked many other places, Bill made his mark on society by making Charlie Brown, Snoopy (my personal favorite) and the Peanuts Gang comic strip come to life on TV.

An Oscar nominee and 8-time Emmy winner, Melendez was the only filmmaker Peanuts creator Charles M. Schulz allowed to oversee the animated versions of Charlie Brown and Snoopy --- in 68 TV specials, four feature films and more than 372 commercials.

His Warner Bros. work included such classics as “Wabbit Twouble,” “Mouse Menace,” “What Makes Daffy Duck,” “What’s Up, Doc” and “Gerald McBoing Boing.”

His first directorial effort was 1965’s “A Charlie Brown Christmas (a special that still airs annually).” His last work was on 2006’s “He’s A Bully, Charlie Brown.”

Audiences should especially revere Melendez, the only adult among the Peanuts voice cast, because his vocalizations for Charlie Brown’s famous beagle (who managed to “talk” without words) were always so inspired. Enjoy Bill's work in this compilation of clips from Peanuts specials.

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