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thatcrazycajunWith thanks to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
filkertom for passing along the sad news: Emmy and Peabody Award winner Bill Meléndez, who together with Lee Mendelsohn formed the only animation team in the world the late Charles M. Schulz trusted with his beloved Peanuts characters, has died just a couple months short of what would have been his 92nd birthday (November 15). Death occurred at St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica, CA of undisclosed causes; Yahoo! News reports the story here.
He was still animating Charlie Brown and friends as late as last year, showing what the best always make obvious: that doing what you love, and loving what you do, lengthens your lifespan. If all he had done was put 75 Peanuts specials and a weekly series on our TVs and four feature films in our theaters, that alone would have earned him lasting remembrance. But even before founding the animation studio that bears his name, he toiled for three of the greatest of Hollywood's cartoon houses, helping paint the gilt on the "golden age" of cinematic animation.
As a young man, Walt Disney Studios let him cut his teeth on such classic films of the genre as Bambi, Fantasia and Dumbo. Then at Warner Bros., under the name "J. C. Meléndez," he did time on their famed "Termite Terrace" team of gleefully subversive animators with Bob Clampett and Robert McKimson. And at UPA, he brought children's-book characters Babar, Gerald McBoing-Boing and Madeline to life on the big screen. Later, at his own studio, he did the same for comic-page staples Cathy and Garfield. (The latter's creator, Jim Davis, is said to have chosen Melendez's studio for his strip's animation on the strength of their Peanuts work.) He even found time to provide the "voice" (such as it was) of Snoopy and to teach at USC. And he could rock one hell of a lavish handlebar moustache.
In addition to a body of truly stellar work, Mr. Meléndez leaves behind a wife of 68 years, Helen; two sons, one a rear admiral in the US Navy; six grandchildren; and 11 great grandchildren. My heart, thoughts and prayers are with all of them, as well as Bill's co-workers, colleagues and friends in this difficult hour. Vaya con Dios, señor, y muchas gracias.
filkertom for passing along the sad news: Emmy and Peabody Award winner Bill Meléndez, who together with Lee Mendelsohn formed the only animation team in the world the late Charles M. Schulz trusted with his beloved Peanuts characters, has died just a couple months short of what would have been his 92nd birthday (November 15). Death occurred at St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica, CA of undisclosed causes; Yahoo! News reports the story here.He was still animating Charlie Brown and friends as late as last year, showing what the best always make obvious: that doing what you love, and loving what you do, lengthens your lifespan. If all he had done was put 75 Peanuts specials and a weekly series on our TVs and four feature films in our theaters, that alone would have earned him lasting remembrance. But even before founding the animation studio that bears his name, he toiled for three of the greatest of Hollywood's cartoon houses, helping paint the gilt on the "golden age" of cinematic animation.
As a young man, Walt Disney Studios let him cut his teeth on such classic films of the genre as Bambi, Fantasia and Dumbo. Then at Warner Bros., under the name "J. C. Meléndez," he did time on their famed "Termite Terrace" team of gleefully subversive animators with Bob Clampett and Robert McKimson. And at UPA, he brought children's-book characters Babar, Gerald McBoing-Boing and Madeline to life on the big screen. Later, at his own studio, he did the same for comic-page staples Cathy and Garfield. (The latter's creator, Jim Davis, is said to have chosen Melendez's studio for his strip's animation on the strength of their Peanuts work.) He even found time to provide the "voice" (such as it was) of Snoopy and to teach at USC. And he could rock one hell of a lavish handlebar moustache.
In addition to a body of truly stellar work, Mr. Meléndez leaves behind a wife of 68 years, Helen; two sons, one a rear admiral in the US Navy; six grandchildren; and 11 great grandchildren. My heart, thoughts and prayers are with all of them, as well as Bill's co-workers, colleagues and friends in this difficult hour. Vaya con Dios, señor, y muchas gracias.
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Date: 2008-09-04 05:05 am (UTC)