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Bill Melendez

José Cuauhtémoc "Bill" Melendez (November 15, 1916 – September 2, 2008)[1][2] was an American animator, director, producer, and voice actor. Melendez is known for working on the Peanuts animated specials, as well as providing the voices of Snoopy and Woodstock. Before Peanuts, he previously worked as an animator for Walt Disney Productions, Warner Bros. Cartoons, and UPA.[3]

Bill Melendez
Melendez in 1987
Born
José Cuauhtémoc Melendez

(1916-11-15)November 15, 1916
Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico
DiedSeptember 2, 2008(2008-09-02) (aged 91)
Santa Monica, California, U.S.
Other namesC. Melendez
J.C. Melendez
William Melendez
Occupations
  • Animator
  • director
  • producer
  • voice actor
Years active1938–2006
Employers
Notable workPeanuts animated specials
Spouse
Helen Melendez
​
(m. 1940)​
Children2, including Steven C. Melendez

In a career spanning over 60 years, he won six Primetime Emmy Awards and was nominated for thirteen more. In addition, he was nominated for an Oscar and five Grammy Awards. The two Peanuts specials, A Charlie Brown Christmas and What Have We Learned, Charlie Brown?, which he directed, were each honored with a Peabody Award.

Early life

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A native of Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico, Melendez was educated in American public schools in Douglas, Arizona.[1] He later attended the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles (which would later become California Institute of the Arts).[1]

Early animation work (1935–1961)

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On completion of his studies, Melendez found his first job at a lumber mill. After watching Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, he gained employment at Disney in 1938, where he worked as an assistant animator to Hawley Pratt whom he befriended and worked together to developed a naval game with toy ships. He worked on what are now considered classics: Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo, and Bambi and he worked once as an animator for a Donald Duck short, The Flying Jalopy.[4] Following the 1941 Disney strike, Melendez was hired by Leon Schlesinger Productions, later known as Warner Bros. Cartoons, where he served as animator on the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series. He worked in Bob Clampett's unit, first as an assistant animator for Rod Scribner, and then as a full animator starting with Wagon Heels. After Clampett's departure in 1946, the unit was given to Arthur Davis. When the number of animation units at Warner Bros. was reduced from four to three in 1949, Melendez along with Emery Hawkins moved to Robert McKimson's unit for a time.

After animating a several shorts for McKimson, Melendez was fired by producer Edward Selzer. Afterwards, he moved over to United Productions of America (UPA), where he animated on cartoons such as Gerald McBoing-Boing (1950). Melendez also produced and directed thousands of television commercials, first at UPA, then John Sutherland Productions and Playhouse Pictures.[5] In 1963, Melendez founded his own studio in the basement of his Hollywood home. Bill Melendez Productions is still active and is currently run by his son Steven C. Melendez.[6] In addition to animation, Melendez was once a faculty member at the University of Southern California's Cinema Arts Department.

Melendez would also be referenced in the 1961 Looney Tunes short The Pied Piper of Guadalupe, where his name was used for a music instructor for Sylvester to learn how to play the flute. At that point, Melendez has been away from Warner Bros. for 10 years.

Peanuts franchise (1959–2006)

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In 1959, Melendez was hired to do some animated television commercials featuring characters from the comic strip Peanuts for the Ford Motor Company. These animations were seen by documentary producer Lee Mendelson, and Mendelson hired Melendez to do some interstitial animations for a film he was producing about the comic strip entitled A Boy Named Charlie Brown.

Melendez was the only person Peanuts creator Charles M. Schulz trusted to turn his popular comic creations into television specials. He and his studio worked on every single television special and direct-to-video film for the Peanuts gang and Melendez directed the majority of them. He provided the vocal effects for Snoopy and Woodstock in every single production, voice acting the characters in the studio by uttering gibberish, and the voices were mechanically sped up at different speeds to represent the two different characters, although some later specials had Snoopy speaking in a clear voice, reflecting how he would be thinking to himself in the comics.

According to an article in The New York Times published shortly after his death, Melendez did not intend to do voice acting for the two characters. "Schulz would not countenance the idea of a beagle uttering English dialogue, Mr. Melendez recited gibberish into a tape recorder, sped it up and put the result on the soundtrack."[1] He also directed, did the animation for, and provided voice acting in the first four Peanuts theatrical films, A Boy Named Charlie Brown (1969), Snoopy Come Home (1972), Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown (1977), and Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (1980), as well as the video games Get Ready for School, Charlie Brown! (1995) and Snoopy's Campfire Stories (1996).[7]

The last Peanuts-related production he worked on was He's a Bully, Charlie Brown (2006). Melendez and Lee Mendelson, who also worked on the Peanuts specials, films, and TV shows, formed their own production team and did other animated specials. They were responsible for the first two Garfield animated specials, Here Comes Garfield (1982) and Garfield on the Town (1983), as well as Frosty Returns (1992), the pseudo-sequel to Rankin/Bass' Frosty the Snowman (1969).

National Student Film Institute

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During the 1980s and 1990s Melendez served on the advisory board of the National Student Film Institute.[8][9]

Death

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On September 2, 2008, Bill Melendez died at Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California at the age of 91.[10] No cause of his death was made public, but he had been in declining health after a fall a year earlier.[1] Melendez was cremated and his ashes were given to his family.

Posthumous return to Peanuts

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Archive recordings of his work as Snoopy and Woodstock were used for the film The Peanuts Movie.[11] This makes him the only member of the film's cast to have been involved in a previous Peanuts project, save for Kristin Chenoweth, who won a Tony Award for her performance as Sally Brown in You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown on Broadway. Melendez also has archival recordings on the film's game, Snoopy's Grand Adventure.

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  • Melendez Films – Animation division : United Kingdom, video and interactive entertainment

Filmography

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Films

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Year Film Animator Producer Director Actor Role Notes
1940 Pinocchio Yes No No No Assistant animator
Fantasia Yes No No No
1941 Dumbo Yes No No No
1942 Bambi Yes No No No
1943 The Flying Jalopy Yes No No No
A Corny Concerto Yes No No No Assistant animator
Falling Hare Yes No No No
An Itch in Time Yes No No No
1945 Draftee Daffy Yes No No No
Wagon Heels Yes No No No
The Bashful Buzzard Yes No No No
1946 Book Revue Yes No No No
Baby Bottleneck Yes No No No
Kitty Kornered Yes No No No
The Great Piggy Bank Robbery Yes No No No
The Big Snooze Yes No No No
1947 The Goofy Gophers Yes No No No
The Foxy Duckling Yes No No No
Doggone Cats Yes No No No
Mexican Joyride Yes No No No
Catch as Cats Can Yes No No No
1948 Two Gophers from Texas Yes No No No
What Makes Daffy Duck Yes No No No
A Hick a Slick and a Chick Yes No No No
Nothing But the Tooth Yes No No No
Bone Sweet Bone Yes No No No
The Rattled Rooster Yes No No No
Dough Ray Me-ow Yes No No No
The Pest That Came to Dinner Yes No No No
Odor of the Day Yes No No No
The Stupor Salesman Yes No No No
Riff Raffy Daffy Yes No No No
1949 Holiday for Drumsticks Yes No No No
Porky Chops Yes No No No
Bowery Bugs Yes No No No
Bye, Bye Bluebeard Yes No No No
A Ham in a Role Yes No No No
1950 Punchy de Leon Yes No No No
Boobs in the Woods Yes No No No
Spellbound Hound Yes No No No
The Leghorn Blows at Midnight Yes No No No
The Miner's Daughter Yes No No No
An Egg Scramble Yes No No No
What's Up Doc? Yes No No No
It's Hummer Time Yes No No No
Giddyap Yes No No No
Trouble Indemnity Yes No No No
A Fractured Leghorn Yes No No No
Pop 'im Pop! Yes No No No
Gerald McBoing-Boing Yes No No No
Bushy Hare Yes No No No
Dog Collared Yes No No No
Albert in Blunderland Yes No No No
1951 Hare We Go Yes No No No
Bungled Bungalow Yes No No No
A Fox in a Fix Yes No No No
Corn Plastered Yes No No No
Georgie and the Dragon Yes No No No
The Wonder Gloves Yes No No No
1952 The Oompahs Yes No No No
Willie the Kid Yes No No No
Madeline Yes No No No
1953 Little Boy with a Big Horn Yes No No No
Christopher Crumpet Yes No No No
Gerald McBoing-Boing's Symphony Yes No No No
1954 Ballet-Oop Yes No No No
It's Everybody's Business Yes No No No
1957 Energetically Yours Yes No Yes No
1963 It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World Yes No No No
1965 A Charlie Brown Christmas No Yes Yes Yes Snoopy
1969 A Boy Named Charlie Brown No Yes Yes Yes Snoopy
1970 The Rainbow Bear Yes No Yes No
1972 Snoopy Come Home No Yes Yes Yes Snoopy, Woodstock
1975 Dick Deadeye, or Duty Done No No Yes No
Escape to Witch Mountain Yes No No No
1977 Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown No Yes Yes Yes Snoopy, Woodstock
1978 Tooth Brushing No Yes Yes Yes Snoopy
1980 Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (and Don't Come Back!!) No Yes Yes Yes Snoopy, Woodstock
1985 Molly and the Skywalkerz: Happily Ever After No No Yes No Direct-to-video film
1989 Molly and the Skywalkerz: Two Daddies? No No Yes No Direct-to-video film
1992 Cool World Yes No No No
2015 The Peanuts Movie No No No Yes Snoopy, Woodstock archival recordings

Television

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Year Film Animator Producer Director Actor Role Notes
1956 The Gerald McBoing-Boing Show Yes No No No 1 episode: The Election/The Fifty-First Dragon/Twirlinger Twins in the Ballet Lesson
1960 The Bugs Bunny Show Yes No No No classic cartoons
1963 A Boy Named Charlie Brown Yes No Yes Yes Snoopy
1965 A Charlie Brown Christmas No Yes Yes Yes Snoopy
1966 Charlie Brown's All Stars! No Yes Yes Yes Snoopy
It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown No Yes Yes Yes Snoopy
1967 You're in Love, Charlie Brown No Yes Yes Yes Snoopy
1968 He's Your Dog, Charlie Brown No Yes Yes Yes Snoopy
The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour Yes No No No classic cartoons
1969 Turn-On Yes No No No 1 episode
It Was a Short Summer, Charlie Brown No Yes Yes Yes Snoopy
1971 Play It Again, Charlie Brown No Yes Yes Yes Snoopy
Babar Comes to America No Yes Yes No
1972 You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown No Yes Yes Yes Snoopy, Woodstock
1973 There's No Time for Love, Charlie Brown No Yes Yes Yes Snoopy
A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving No Yes Yes Yes Snoopy, Woodstock
1974 It's a Mystery, Charlie Brown No Yes No Yes Snoopy, Woodstock
It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown No Yes No Yes Snoopy, Woodstock
Yes Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus No Yes Yes No
1975 Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown No Yes No Yes Snoopy, Woodstock
You're a Good Sport, Charlie Brown No Yes No Yes Snoopy, Woodstock
1976 It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown No Yes No Yes Snoopy, Woodstock
The Sylvester & Tweety Show Yes No No No classic cartoons
1977 A Glee Cartoon No Yes No Yes Prince Mac, Princess Marjorie
It's Your First Kiss, Charlie Brown No Yes No Yes Snoopy, Woodstock
1978 What a Nightmare, Charlie Brown! No Yes Yes Yes Snoopy
1979 You're the Greatest, Charlie Brown No Yes No Yes Snoopy, Woodstock
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe No No Yes No Also credited for story adaptation
1980 She's a Good Skate, Charlie Brown No Yes No Yes Snoopy
Life Is a Circus, Charlie Brown No Yes No Yes Snoopy
1981 It's Magic, Charlie Brown No Yes No Yes Snoopy, Woodstock
Someday You'll Find Her, Charlie Brown No Yes No Yes Snoopy, Woodstock
No Man's Valley No Yes Yes No
1982 Princess Marjorie: A Glee Special No Yes No Yes Prince Mac, Princess Marjorie, Mr. Penguin
A Charlie Brown Celebration No Yes Yes Yes Snoopy, Woodstock
Here Comes Garfield No Yes No No
1983 Is This Goodbye, Charlie Brown? No Yes No Yes Snoopy, Woodstock
It's an Adventure, Charlie Brown No Yes Yes Yes Snoopy, Woodstock
What Have We Learned, Charlie Brown? No Yes Yes Yes Snoopy, Woodstock
Garfield on the Town No Yes No No
1983–1985 The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show No Yes Yes Yes Snoopy, Woodstock
1984 It's Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown No Yes Yes Yes Snoopy, Woodstock
1985 Snoopy's Getting Married, Charlie Brown No Yes Yes Yes Snoopy, Woodstock, Spike
The Romance of Betty Boop No Yes Yes No
It's Your 20th Television Anniversary, Charlie Brown No Yes Yes Yes Snoopy
You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown No Yes No Yes Snoopy (non-speaking), Woodstock
1986 Happy New Year, Charlie Brown! No Yes Yes Yes Snoopy, Woodstock
1987 Cathy No Yes No No
1988 Snoopy: The Musical No Yes No Yes Snoopy (non-speaking), Woodstock
It's the Girl in the Red Truck, Charlie Brown No Yes No Yes Spike
Cathy's Last Resort No Yes No No
1988–1989 This Is America, Charlie Brown No Yes Yes Yes Snoopy, Woodstock Also credited as writer for 4 episodes
1989 Cathy's Valentine No Yes No No
1990 You Don't Look 40, Charlie Brown No Yes Yes Yes Himself
Why, Charlie Brown, Why? No Yes No Yes Snoopy, Woodstock
Merrie Melodies: Starring Bugs Bunny and Friends Yes No No No classic cartoons
1991 Snoopy's Reunion No Yes No Yes Snoopy, Snoopy's Siblings
1992 It's Spring Training, Charlie Brown Yes Yes No Yes Snoopy, Woodstock
It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown No Yes Yes Yes Snoopy, Woodstock
Frosty Returns No Yes Yes No
1994 You're in the Super Bowl, Charlie Brown No Yes Yes Yes Snoopy, Woodstock
1995 That's Warner Bros.! Yes No No No classic cartoons
1997 It Was My Best Birthday Ever, Charlie Brown No Yes Yes Yes Snoopy, Woodstock
2000 Here's to You, Charlie Brown: 50 Great Years No Yes Yes Yes Snoopy, Woodstock
It's the Pied Piper, Charlie Brown No Yes Yes Yes Snoopy
2002 A Charlie Brown Valentine No Yes Yes Yes Snoopy
Charlie Brown's Christmas Tales No Yes No Yes Snoopy, Woodstock
2003 Lucy Must Be Traded, Charlie Brown No Yes Yes Yes Snoopy
I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown No Yes Yes Yes Snoopy, Woodstock, Spike
2006 He's a Bully, Charlie Brown No Yes Yes Yes Snoopy, Woodstock
2008 Peanuts Motion Comics No No No Yes Snoopy archival recordings

Video games

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Year Film Animator Producer Director Actor Role Notes
1995 Get Ready for School, Charlie Brown! Yes Yes Yes Yes Snoopy, Woodstock
1996 Snoopy's Campfire Stories Yes No Yes Yes Snoopy, Woodstock
2015 The Peanuts Movie: Snoopy's Grand Adventure No No No Yes Snoopy, Woodstock archival recordings

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Fox, Margalit (September 4, 2008). "Bill Melendez, 'Peanuts' Animator, Dies at 91". The New York Times. Archived from the original on September 30, 2018. Retrieved October 6, 2021.
  2. ^ "Peanuts' animator Melendez dies". BBC. September 4, 2008. Archived from the original on September 6, 2008. Retrieved September 4, 2008.
  3. ^ Beck, Jerry (September 3, 2008). "Bill Melendez 1916-2008". Cartoon Brew. Retrieved October 22, 2024.
  4. ^ "Bill Melendez, Comics Creator, Businessman and Peanuts Animator". thecartoonists.ca. Archived from the original on November 30, 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  5. ^ Solomon, Charles (September 4, 2008). "Animator of 'Peanuts' TV specials and voice of Snoopy". The Los Angeles Times.
  6. ^ "Bill Melendez Prod. Inc". billmelendez.tv.
  7. ^ "Bill Melendez at Moby Games". Retrieved October 29, 2017.
  8. ^ National Student Film Institute/L.A: The Sixteenth Annual Los Angeles Student Film Festival. The Directors Guild Theatre. June 10, 1994. pp. 10–11.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  9. ^ Los Angeles Student Film Institute: 13th Annual Student Film Festival. The Directors Guild Theatre. June 7, 1991. p. 3.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  10. ^ "'Peanuts' animator Bill Melendez dies at 91". TODAY.com. September 4, 2008. Retrieved May 20, 2020.
  11. ^ Russ Fischer (March 17, 2014). "New 'Peanuts' Movie First Look: Charlie Brown and Snoopy Head Back to the Big Screen". Slashfilm.
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