José Cuauhtémoc "Bill" Meléndez (November 15, 1916 – September 2, 2008) was a Mexican-American character animator, film director, voice artist and producer, known for his cartoons for Warner Brothers, UPA and the Peanuts series. Melendez provided the voices of Snoopy and Woodstock in the latter as well.
His father named General Ramon Melendez, a military soldier, originally named him Cuauthemoc Melendez, but had a big fight with his priest, and his mother agreed with the priest, that didn't like the name Cuauthemoc. A native of the Mexican city of Hermosillo, Sonora, Melendez was educated in U.S. public schools in Douglas, Arizona. and had good grades. Later he attended in Los Angeles the Chouinard Art Institute (which would later become California Institute of the Arts).
Following the 1941 Disney strike, Bill was hired by Leon Schlesinger to animate in Bob Clampett's unit. After Clampett's departure, Bill moved to the Arthur Davis unit. When the number of animation units at Warner Bros. was reduced from four to three in 1948, Melendez, after being moved to Robert McKimson's unit for a time, moved over to United Productions of America (UPA) where he animated on cartoons such as Gerald McBoing-Boing. Melendez also produced and directed thousands of television commercials, first at UPA, then Playhouse Pictures and John Sutherland Productions. In 1963, Melendez founded his own studio in the basement of his Hollywood home. Bill Melendez Productions is still active and is currently run by his son Steven Melendez. In addition to animation, Melendez was once a faculty member at the University of Southern California's Cinema Arts Department.