Producer Lee Mendelson, winner of a dozen Emmy Awards and four Peabody Awards, passed away yesterday at the age of 86. One of each of those trophies was for A Charlie Brown Christmas, which first aired in 1965. CBS expected it to bomb in the ratings but it turned out to be one of the highest-rated specials ever and its annual viewing became a vital tradition in households not just in America but around the world. It also led to more than forty subsequent Peanuts specials produced by Lee and his animation partner Bill Melendez as well as two movies. Lee Mendelson Productions also produced award-winning documentaries and animated shows not featuring Charlie Brown and his friends.
I worked with Lee on several of them including the Garfield and Friends cartoon show for CBS Saturday morning. He was — and I've said this before many times — the smartest, nicest and most honest producer I've encountered in the television industry. Once you knew him, you understood why cartoonists like Charles Schulz and Jim Davis were so willing to trust him with their beloved children.
Even though I knew he'd been ill in recent years, the news still comes as a jolt. I have so many memories of working with this extraordinary man, I have to decide which ones I should share here so this will not be the last post about him. And the recent airings of A Charlie Brown Christmas will not be the last that we will see of his screen credit. For one thing, that show will rerun forever.