Bill Melendez
Bill Melendez (* November 15, 1916 when José Cuauhtemoc Melendez in Hermosillo, Mexico, † September 2, 2008 in Santa Monica, California ) was an American animator mexikanischstämmiger. In a more than 60 year career Melendez worked as an animator in the animation studios of Walt Disney, Leon Schlesinger Productions and United of America ( UPA). But was best known for his collaboration with Charles M. Schulz in Peanuts movies.
Biography
Melendez was born in Hermosillo in the northern Mexican state of Sonora. His family emigrated in 1928 to the United States. He attended school in Douglas, Arizona, and studied art at the Chouinard Art Institute, which is part of the California Institute of the Arts today.
Bill Melendez by Walt Disney in 1938 was hired as a draftsman. Melendez worked with both the feature films Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo and Bambi, as well as at several Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck movies. After the strike of 1941, which paralyzed the work in the Disney studios for five weeks Melendez was released and moved to Leon Schlesinger animation production at Warner Bros.
When Warner Melendez worked in the team of Bob Clampett, after his departure, then under the direction of Arthur Davis and Robert McKinsom. Melendez animated under the name JC Melendez numerous Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and pig -Dick cartoons of the Looney Tunes series.
1948 moved to Melendez UPA, where he worked among other things as an animator on the Oscar-winning cartoon Gerald McBoing - Boing. In Melendez UPA first began to produce commercials. He then left UPA and produced more than 1000 industrial films and commercials. For his work in this area Melendez won numerous awards. 1964 Bill Melendez finally established with Bill Melendez Production, Inc. its own production company.
Already in 1959, Melendez worked with Charles M. Schulz to a realization of his Peanuts strip as an animated film after the automobile company, Ford had shown interest in using the cartoon characters for an advertising campaign. 1965 finally produced the half-hour Christmas special A Charlie Brown Christmas a first Peanuts television movie of Melendez. The realized from a screenplay by Schulz television film won an Emmy Award and became a television classic that is repeated every year for Christmas in U.S. television.
Charles M. Schulz decreed that only Melendez could produce films with his Peanuts characters. In the following 40 years, emerged as around 75 half-hour specials, five one-hour television films, four feature films ( including the Oscar-nominated film of Charlie Brown and his friends ) and more than 370 commercials. Melendez was there not only active as a director and producer, but also spoke the original voices of Snoopy and Woodstock.
In addition to the work on the Peanuts movies Melendez was also still active in the advertising industry. In 1970 he opened a studio in London. In this Studio 1979, the cartoon was on CS Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia novel produced based The King of Narnia, for the Melendez won an Emmy Award.
In the 1980s, Melendez produced the first Garfield cartoons for television. We also had the Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show and the miniseries " This Is America, Charlie Brown" more television productions in collaboration with Charles Schulz.
Bill Melendez died age of 91 on September 2, 2008 at St. John 's Hospital in Santa Monica, California. He was active until recently in the movie business, his last Charlie Brown Special was released in 2006. The production companies in Hollywood and London will be continued after his death by his son Steven C. Melendez.