The man who brought 'A Charlie Brown Christmas' to television and penned the lyrics to the special's signature song, 'Christmas Time is Here,' has died. Lee Mendelson was 86 and died on Christmas day.
This 2015 photo provided by Jason Mendelson shows Lee Mendelson in Hillsborough, Calif. Lee Mendelson, the producer who changed the face of the holidays when he brought “A Charlie Brown Christmas” to television in 1965 and wrote the lyrics to its signature song, “Christmas Time Is Here,” died on Christmas day, Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2019.
Mendelson, who won a dozen Emmys in his long career, died at his home in Hillsborough, California, of congestive heart failure at age 86 after a long struggle with lung cancer, son Jason Mendelson told The Associated Press. “Christmas time is here, happiness and cheer, fun for all that children call, their favorite time of year.”
He graduated from Stanford in 1954, served in the Air Force and worked for his father’s fruit-and-vegetable company before going into TV for the Bay Area’s KPIX-TV. He and Schulz originally worked on a “Peanuts” documentary that proved a hard sell for TV, but midway through 1965 a sponsor asked them if they could create the first comic strip’s first animated special in time for Christmas.
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