Bill Melendez

Today’s voice actor discussion is a little bit different, for he’s not professionally known to be a voice actor. He was an animator first, and then was a voice actor.

Born José Cuauhtémoc Meléndez, Bill Melendez was an interesting man. This may sound strange, but this man brought to life characters such as Snoopy, Woodstock, and Spike on the Peanuts. He helped to animate these characters as well, working with Charles Schultz and Lee Mendelson.

Normally, Melendez had a baritone sort of voice, but in order to obtain the correct sound, selected lines had to be fast forwarded to get a higher tone for Snoopy’s voice. His normal speaking voice also had a noticeable Mexican accent, which we strangely don’t always hear when he voices Snoopy.

Melendez has done Snoopy’s voice so many times that there’s enough vocal footage for a full length movie, which is why for the upcoming movie, they might actually use the old dialogue for Snoopy’s voice. So technically, even after all these years and after Melendez’ death, his voice is still used for Snoopy and Woodstock.

José Cuauhtémoc “Bill” Meléndez: November 15, 1916- September 2, 2008

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