Linus the Lionhearted

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Linus the Lionhearted
Genre	Animated television series
Voices of	Sheldon Leonard Ed Graham Sterling Holloway Carl Reiner Ruth Buzzi Bob McFadden Jesse White Jonathan Winters Gerry Matthews
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
Broadcast
Original channel	CBS, ABC
Picture format	Black-and-white
Audio format	Monaural
Original run	September 26, 1964 – 1969?
Links
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Linus the Lionhearted was an animated cartoon created by the Ed Graham advertising agency, originally as a series of ads for Post Cereals. The ads were so popular that a television series was created in 1964 and ran on the CBS network, and from 1966 to 1969 on ABC when it was cancelled.

In addition to Linus, a rather good-natured "King of the Beasts" voiced by Sheldon Leonard, there were other features as well, all based on a popular Post cereal. The best-known of these was Sugar Bear, who was voiced by actor Gerry Matthews. There was also a postman named Loveable Truly, a young Asian boy named So Hi, and Rory Raccoon.

The show was perhaps best noted for its abundance of well-known vocal talent. In addition to Leonard, Carl Reiner voiced several characters, most notably Linus' friend Billy Bird; Ruth Buzzi voiced an old woman who'd befriended Loveable Truly, as well as Sugar Bear's sometime nemesis, Granny Goodwitch; and veteran Bob McFadden voiced So Hi, Rory and Loveable Truly. Jonathan Winters also made a guest appearance, as did Jerry Stiller and his wife Anne Meara.

The FCC made a ruling in 1969 that forbid children's show characters from appearing in advertisements on the same program and this meant that ABC was forced to cancel the program.