Snoopy is not Mexican, but the man who made him move, and growl, laugh, and mutter, was. José Cuauhtémoc “Bill” Meléndez, born in Hermosillo, Sonora, was the only animator Charles Schulz trusted to adapt Peanuts for television.

As Kiko Martinez and Andrew S. Vargas have reported for Remezcla, Meléndez directed and produced A Charlie Brown Christmas and decades of Peanuts specials. He also voiced Snoopy and Woodstock, a “happy accident” that began when he tested character sounds on a deadline and Schulz liked what he heard. Those recordings were later reused in The Peanuts Movie after Meléndez’s death in 2008 at 91.

He had already worked at Disney and Warner Bros. before founding his own studio. For Latino families who grow up with the Christmas special, that history is part of the viewing: the beagle on screen was brought to life by a Mexican American animator who also gave him his voice.

Featured source: Viviana Yvonne TV Instagram reel.

Original reporting: Kiko Martinez, Remezcla; Andrew S. Vargas, Remezcla.

Photo credit: George Napolitano / FilmMagic, via Remezcla.