Lee Mendelson

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title: "Lee Mendelson" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1933-births", "2019-deaths", "20th-century-american-businesspeople", "american-animated-film-producers", "businesspeople-from-san-francisco", "deaths-from-lung-cancer-in-california", "film-producers-from-california", "military-personnel-from-san-francisco", "peabody-award-winners", "primetime-emmy-award-winners", "san-mateo-high-school-alumni", "stanford-university-alumni", "television-producers-from-california", "united-states-air-force-officers", "united-states-air-force-personnel-of-the-korean-war"] description: "American animation producer (1933–2019)" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Mendelson" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American animation producer (1933–2019) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]

Field	Value
name	Lee Mendelson
image	Lee Mendelson 1974.jpg
caption	Mendelson in 1974
birth_name	Leland Maurice Mendelson
birth_date
birth_place	San Francisco, California, U.S.
death_date
death_place	Hillsborough, California, U.S.
alma_mater	Stanford University
occupation	Television producer
years_active	1961–2019
known_for	Executive producer of Peanuts animated specials
spouse	{{Unbulleted list
* {{marriage	Debbie Mendelson
* {{marriage	Barbara Claire Thompson
children	4; including Lynda
::

| name = Lee Mendelson | image = Lee Mendelson 1974.jpg | caption = Mendelson in 1974 | birth_name = Leland Maurice Mendelson | birth_date = | birth_place = San Francisco, California, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = Hillsborough, California, U.S. | alma_mater = Stanford University | occupation = Television producer | years_active = 1961–2019 | known_for = Executive producer of Peanuts animated specials | spouse = {{Unbulleted list|

| children = 4; including Lynda Leland Maurice Mendelson (March 24, 1933 – December 25, 2019) was an American animation producer and executive producer of many Peanuts animated specials.

Biography

Mendelson was born in San Francisco and grew up in San Mateo graduating from San Mateo High School. He graduated from Stanford University in 1954 with a degree in English. He was a lieutenant in the Air Force for three years. He then worked several years for his father, a vegetable grower and shipper.

Career

Mendelson's career in television began in 1961, when he started working at San Francisco's KPIX-TV, where he created public service announcements. A fortunate find of some antique film footage of the 1915 San Francisco World's Fair led to Mendelson's first production, a documentary entitled The Innocent Fair. The documentary was the first in a series on the history of the city, San Francisco Pageant, for which Mendelson won a Peabody Award.

Mendelson left KPIX in 1963 to form his own production company. His first work was a documentary on Willie Mays, A Man Named Mays. Shortly after the documentary aired, Mendelson came across a Peanuts comic strip that revolved around Charlie Brown's baseball team. Mendelson thought that since he'd just "done the world's greatest baseball player, now [he] should do the world's worst baseball player, Charlie Brown." 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 unaired 1963 documentary, A Boy Named Charlie Brown, was the beginning of a 30-year collaboration between Schulz and Mendelson.

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 Melendez, 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 "Cast Your Fate to the Wind", a Guaraldi-composed song while driving across the Golden Gate Bridge.

After a hurried six-month production period, A Charlie Brown Christmas aired December 9, 1965 on CBS. The show won both an Emmy and a Peabody award and was the first of over 40 animated Peanuts specials created by Mendelson, Melendez and Schulz. In addition they collaborated on The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show, which ran on Saturday mornings during the 1980s.

In 1968, Mendelson produced the documentary Travels with Charley, based upon the book by John Steinbeck.

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.

Personal life

Mendelson died on December 25, 2019, from lung cancer. He had a wife, Ploenta and four children, including Lynda.

References

References

1. Greilsamer, Marc. (November 1997). "Life After Snoopy". Stanford Alumni Magazine.
2. Gurman, Sarah. (June 1, 2006). "Lee Mendelson, Producer of This is America, Charlie Brown and all of the other Peanuts primetime specials". [[Animation Magazine]].
3. Walker, Dave. (December 6, 1995). "30 YEARS? GOOD GRIEF!". [[Sun-Sentinel]].
4. Kreps, Daniel. (December 27, 2019). "Lee Mendelson, 'Peanuts' Producer and 'Christmas Time Is Here' Co-Writer, Dead at 86".
5. Barnes, Mike. (December 27, 2019). "Lee Mendelson, Prolific Producer of 'Peanuts' TV Specials, Dies at 86". [[The Hollywood Reporter]].
6. Boucher, Geoff. (December 27, 2019). "Lee Mendelson Dies: Producer Of 'Peanuts' TV Specials Was 86". [[Deadline Hollywood]].
7. Murray, Noel. (January 9, 2013). "The Charlie Brown And Snoopy Show: The Complete Animated Series".
8. (December 27, 2019). "Lee Mendelson, executive producer of Peanuts TV specials, dies". Palo Alto Daily Post.
9. "Lee Mendelson Awards & Nominations". [[Academy of Television Arts & Sciences]].
10. Milligan, Mercedes. (2020-01-01). "'A Charlie Brown Christmas' Producer Lee Mendelson Dies Age 86".

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