{"id":7735,"date":"2019-12-28T21:21:00","date_gmt":"2019-12-29T02:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mortystv.com\/blog\/?p=7735"},"modified":"2019-12-29T21:22:19","modified_gmt":"2019-12-30T02:22:19","slug":"lee-mendelson-dies-producer-of-peanuts-tv-specials-was-86","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mortystv.com\/blog\/2019\/12\/28\/lee-mendelson-dies-producer-of-peanuts-tv-specials-was-86\/","title":{"rendered":"Lee Mendelson, Producer Of \u2018Peanuts\u2019 TV Specials Dies at 86"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-7736\" src=\"https:\/\/mortystv.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/charliebrownchristmas.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"337\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mortystv.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/charliebrownchristmas.jpg 600w, https:\/\/mortystv.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/charliebrownchristmas-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/mortystv.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/charliebrownchristmas-560x315.jpg 560w, https:\/\/mortystv.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/charliebrownchristmas-260x146.jpg 260w, https:\/\/mortystv.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/charliebrownchristmas-160x90.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/>Lee Mendelson, an Emmy-winning producer of more than 50 animated Peanuts TV specials, including <em>A Charlie Brown Christmas<\/em>, has died, he was 86.<\/p>\n<p>Mendelson died on Christmas Day in Hillsborough, CA, following a protracted battle with lung cancer, his family told the Palo Alto Daily Post.<\/p><div id=\"morty-1521354188\" class=\"morty-content\"><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-4937602850188786\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display:block; text-align:center;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-4937602850188786\" \ndata-ad-slot=\"5227734695\" \ndata-ad-layout=\"in-article\"\ndata-ad-format=\"fluid\" data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\n<script> \n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); \n<\/script>\n<\/div>\n<p>Mendelson was born in San Francisco, California, but grew up in San Mateo, graduating from San Mateo High School. He entered Stanford University in 1950, where he majored in English.<\/p>\n<p>After graduating in 1954, he spent three years in the Air Force where he served as a lieutenant. He then worked several years for his father, a vegetable grower and shipper.<\/p>\n<p>Mendelson&#8217;s career in television began in 1961, when he started working at San Francisco&#8217;s KPIX-TV, where he created public service announcements. A fortunate find of some antique film footage of the 1915 San Francisco World&#8217;s Fair led to Mendelson&#8217;s first production, a documentary entitled <em>The Innocent Fair<\/em>. The documentary was the first in a series on the history of the city, San Francisco Pageant, for which Mendelson won a Peabody Award.<\/p>\n<p>In 1963 Mendelson left KPIX to form his own production company. His first work was a documentary on Willie Mays, <em>A Man Named Mays<\/em>. Shortly after the documentary aired, Mendelson came across a Peanuts comic strip that revolved around Charlie Brown&#8217;s baseball team. Mendelson thought that since he&#8217;d just &#8220;done the world&#8217;s greatest baseball player, now [he] should do the world&#8217;s worst baseball player, Charlie Brown.&#8221;<\/p><div id=\"morty-2748910046\" class=\"morty-content_2\" style=\"margin-left: auto;margin-right: auto;text-align: center;\"><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-4937602850188786\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display:block; text-align:center;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-4937602850188786\" \ndata-ad-slot=\"5227734695\" \ndata-ad-layout=\"in-article\"\ndata-ad-format=\"fluid\" data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\n<script> \n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); \n<\/script>\n<\/div>\n<p>Mendelson approached Peanuts creator Charles Schulz with the idea of producing a documentary on Schulz and his strip. Schulz, who had enjoyed the Mays documentary, readily agreed. The 1965 documentary, <em>Charlie Brown &amp; Charles Schulz<\/em>, was the beginning of a 30-year collaboration between Schulz and Mendelson.<\/p>\n<p>While Mendelson was attempting to find a market for the Schulz documentary, he was approached by The Coca-Cola Company, who asked him if he was interested in producing an animated Christmas special for television. Mendelson was, and he immediately contacted Schulz in regards to using the Peanuts characters. Schulz, in turn, suggested hiring animator and director Bill Mel\u00e9ndez, whom Schulz had worked with while creating a Peanuts-themed advertising campaign for the Ford Motor Company. Mendelson also hired jazz composer Vince Guaraldi after hearing a Guaraldi-composed song while driving across the Golden Gate Bridge.<\/p>\n<p>After a hurried six-month production period, <em>A Charlie Brown Christmas<\/em> aired December 9, 1965, on CBS. The show went on to win both the Emmy and Peabody Award and was the first of over 40 animated Peanuts specials created by Mendelson, Mel\u00e9ndez and Schulz. In addition, they collaborated on <em>The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show<\/em>, which ran on Saturday mornings during the 1980s.<\/p>\n<p>In 1968, Mendelson produced the documentary <em>Travels with Charley<\/em>, based upon the book by John Steinbeck.<\/p>\n<p>Mendelson founded and headed Lee Mendelson Film Productions, a Burlingame, California-based television and film production company. Mendelson Productions has produced over 100 television and film productions, winning 12 Emmys and 4 Peabodys, as well as numerous Grammy, Emmy, and Oscar nominations. He has a wife, Ploenta, and four children. Mendelson died on December 25, 2019, from lung cancer<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lee Mendelson, an Emmy-winning producer of more than 50 animated Peanuts TV specials, including A Charlie Brown Christmas, has died, he was 86. Mendelson died on Christmas Day in Hillsborough, CA, following a protracted battle with lung cancer, his family told the Palo Alto Daily Post. Mendelson was born in San Francisco, California, but grew [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7736,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tv_news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.1 (Yoast SEO v27.1.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Lee Mendelson, Producer Of \u2018Peanuts\u2019 TV Specials Dies at 86 - Morty&#039;s TV<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/mortystv.com\/blog\/2019\/12\/28\/lee-mendelson-dies-producer-of-peanuts-tv-specials-was-86\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lee Mendelson, Producer Of \u2018Peanuts\u2019 TV Specials Dies at 86\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Lee Mendelson, an Emmy-winning producer of more than 50 animated Peanuts TV specials, including A Charlie Brown Christmas, has died, he was 86. 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To celebrate the holiday season, Apple TV+ will provide special free streaming windows for nonsubscribers to enjoy the iconic Peanuts holiday specials from Mendelson\/Melendez Productions and Peanuts Worldwide. Don't miss \"It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown,\" available Saturday, October 19 and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;TV News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"TV News","link":"https:\/\/mortystv.com\/blog\/category\/tv_news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mortystv.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/great-pumpkin.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mortystv.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/great-pumpkin.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mortystv.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/great-pumpkin.webp?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":30104,"url":"https:\/\/mortystv.com\/blog\/2021\/11\/29\/apple-tv-delivers-holiday-cheer-with-new-trailer-for-snoopy-presents-for-auld-lang-syne-video\/","url_meta":{"origin":7735,"position":1},"title":"Apple TV+ Delivers Holiday Cheer with New Trailer for &#8220;Snoopy Presents: For Auld Lang Syne&#8221; [VIDEO]","author":"morty","date":"November 29, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Apple TV+ is helping kids and families get into the holiday spirit this year with a lineup of new specials and episodes of award-winning Apple Original series from the Peanuts gang, as well as Peabody Award-winning series \"Stillwater\" and a special episode of \"Get Rolling with Otis,\" all premiering on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;TV News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"TV News","link":"https:\/\/mortystv.com\/blog\/category\/tv_news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mortystv.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/snoopy-0001-11-29-2021.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mortystv.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/snoopy-0001-11-29-2021.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mortystv.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/snoopy-0001-11-29-2021.webp?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":100515,"url":"https:\/\/mortystv.com\/blog\/2025\/05\/20\/apple-tv-announces-snoopy-presents-a-summer-musical-premiering-july-18\/","url_meta":{"origin":7735,"position":2},"title":"Apple TV+ Announces &#8220;Snoopy Presents: A Summer Musical&#8221; Premiering July 18","author":"morty","date":"May 20, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"In the first Peanuts musical in over three decades, Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and the rest of the gang break out in original songs by Emmy Award\u00ae nominees Jeff Morrow and Ben Folds in the latest franchise special that invites kids and families to discover the magic of summer camp Get\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;TV News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"TV News","link":"https:\/\/mortystv.com\/blog\/category\/tv_news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mortystv.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Snoopy-Presents-A-Summer-Musical.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mortystv.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Snoopy-Presents-A-Summer-Musical.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mortystv.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Snoopy-Presents-A-Summer-Musical.webp?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mortystv.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Snoopy-Presents-A-Summer-Musical.webp?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":27366,"url":"https:\/\/mortystv.com\/blog\/2021\/10\/04\/apples-first-new-original-peanuts-holiday-special-for-auld-lang-syne-to-debut-globally-december-10-on-apple-tv\/","url_meta":{"origin":7735,"position":3},"title":"Apple&#8217;s First New, Original &#8220;Peanuts&#8221; Holiday Special, &#8220;For Auld Lang Syne&#8221; to Debut Globally December 10 on Apple TV+","author":"morty","date":"October 4, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"In the special, after the Peanuts gang experience a disappointing Christmas because Grandma can't visit, Lucy resolves to throw herself the best New Year's Eve party ever, while Charlie Brown struggles to accomplish just one of his resolutions before the clock strikes twelve. Apple's First New, Original \"Peanuts\" holiday special,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;TV News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"TV News","link":"https:\/\/mortystv.com\/blog\/category\/tv_news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mortystv.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/great_pumpkin1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mortystv.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/great_pumpkin1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mortystv.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/great_pumpkin1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":35191,"url":"https:\/\/mortystv.com\/blog\/2022\/03\/31\/apple-tv-debuts-trailer-for-all-new-peanuts-earth-day-special-its-the-small-things-charlie-brown-featuring-original-song-by-ben-folds-video\/","url_meta":{"origin":7735,"position":4},"title":"Apple TV+ Debuts Trailer for All-New Peanuts Earth Day Special &#8220;It&#8217;s the Small Things, Charlie Brown,&#8221; Featuring Original Song by Ben Folds [VIDEO]","author":"morty","date":"March 31, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Ahead of the premiere of the all-new Earth Day Peanuts special, \"It's the Small Things, Charlie Brown,\" on Friday, April 15, Apple TV+ today revealed the trailer for the new original special, which is based on the classic Peanuts comic strip by Charles M. Schulz and features an original song\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;TV News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"TV News","link":"https:\/\/mortystv.com\/blog\/category\/tv_news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mortystv.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Peanuts-Earth-Day-Special.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mortystv.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Peanuts-Earth-Day-Special.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mortystv.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Peanuts-Earth-Day-Special.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":103857,"url":"https:\/\/mortystv.com\/blog\/2025\/07\/30\/apple-tv-debuts-trailer-for-peanuts-special-snoopy-presents-a-summer-musical-video\/","url_meta":{"origin":7735,"position":5},"title":"Apple TV+ Debuts Trailer for Peanuts Special &#8220;Snoopy Presents: A Summer Musical&#8221; [VIDEO]","author":"morty","date":"July 30, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Gear up for s'more Peanuts fun and a summer jam-packed with song! Today, Apple TV+ debuted the pitch-perfect trailer for the all-new original Peanuts musical special, \"Snoopy Presents: A Summer Musical,\" set to premiere globally on Friday, August 15. 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