Bill Meléndez - 1916-2008
Bill Meléndez, the Mexican-born American animator who is best known for directing nearly all of the Peanuts television specials, died Tuesday, September 2, 2008 at St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica. He was 91. Meléndez began his career at Walt Disney Studios drawing Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck shorts before moving on to such feature films as Bambi, Fantasia and Dumbo. From 1941 to 1951, he worked for the legendary Warner Brothers animation studio where he helped create cartoons for directors Robert Clampett and Robert McKimson. In 1951, Meléndez went to work for UPA where he animated dozens of television commercials as well as numerous Gerald McBoing-Boing and Madeline shorts. Saul Bass called upon Meléndez to help animate the opening credit scene for It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (one of two things I find funny about this particular movie): While at UPA, Meléndez started doing work for the New York-based J. Walter Thompson ad agency. One of their major clients was th...