Legendary animator Bill Melendez passed away on Tuesday, September 2, 2008, at the age of 91.  I only met Bill once, when he received the Cartoon Art Museum’s Sparky Award in 2002 (more on that award and Mr. Melendez’s accomplishments after this paragraph).  After I worked up enough courage to approach him and ask him to sign my copy of A Charlie Brown Christmas:  The Making of a Tradition, he chuckled and told some great stories about working on the special as he doodled a dancing Snoopy in my book.  

At least, I think he told some great stories.  I was aware of his beaming smile, trademark mustache, and that he was laughing at something that he was explaining, but all that I could think about was the fact that I was standing next to the man who’d animated one of my all-time favorite television programs, something that so many of us had grown up with, something that a surprising number of Americans can probably quote at length…

Anyway, that’s my Bill Melendez story.  He was an incredibly happy guy, very down to earth, and a great animator.  I’m glad I got the chance to thank him for all of the great childhood memories that I have of watching his cartoons, and I’ll be sure to think of him every Halloween, Christmas, New Year’s, Arbor Day, Valentine’s Day…man, he was a prolific guy, wasn’t he?

Bill Melendez received the Cartoon Art Museum’s Sparky Award in 2002. The award celebrates the significant contributions of cartoon artists who reside in the western United States and who embody the talent, innovation and humanity of Charles M. Schulz, for whom the award is named.

Mr. Melendez began his career in animation at the Disney studio in 1938. He worked as an animator on such classics as Fantasia, Pinocchio, Bambi, and Dumbo. After leaving Disney, he animated Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Porky Pig for Leon Schlesinger Cartoons, which later became Warner Brothers Cartoons. Next, Mr. Melendez worked for the UPA studio on its groundbreaking and highly stylized shorts including Madeline and Gerald McBoing-Boing.

After a 10-year stint directing industrial films and award-winning television commercials, Mr. Melendez founded his own production company, Bill Melendez Productions, in 1964. That same year, he produced his first television special—A Charlie Brown Christmas. The show was an instant critical and popular success, winning both an Emmy Award and the prestigious George Foster Peabody Award for Outstanding Children/Young People’s program..

Mr. Melendez went on to produce more than 75 Charlie Brown specials and four feature-length movies as well as animating specials featuring Jim Davis’ Garfield, Babar the Elephant, and Cathy Guisewite’s Cathy. The eight Emmys and numerous other awards he has received attest to the significant contribution Melendez has made to the field of animation.