The Mexican-American producer who made one of the most beloved Christmas specials of all time
*A Charlie Brown Christmas turned 50 this year. What better time to recognize the genius behind the classic animated film, Bill Melendez. His company produced 70 more Peanut specials. VL
By Camilo Smith, La Voz de Houston
It’s a television show that’s marking its 50th anniversary tonight. And few television specials carry the meaning of Christmas like A Charlie Brown Christmas. Yet, while the cartoon has aired pretty regularly since its first showing in 1965, few people remember the Latino producer who was behind its success.
Bill Melendez was well-known in the Hollywood animation world long before he worked on the Peanuts characters.
According to a bio on his website, Melendez whose full name was Jose Cuahtemoc Melendez, was born in Hermosillo, Mexico in 1916. He died in 2008 in Santa Monica, Calif. Before making seminal Peanuts classics such as It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, Melendez was an animator for Walt Disney.
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[Phot courttesy of ABC]
