Linus van Pelt

Linus van Pelt
Peanuts character
Linus with his blanket
First appearance	September 19, 1952
Last appearance	January 1, 2000 Happiness Is a Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown (2011 Television Special and Movie) The Peanuts Movie (2015 film)
Voiced by	Christopher Shea (1963–1968) Glenn Gilger (1969) Stephen Shea (1971–1975) Liam Martin (1975–1977) Daniel Anderson (1977–1980) Rocky Reilly (1980–1983) Jeremy Schoenberg (1983–1985) David T. Wagner (1984–1985) Jeremy Miller (1985–1988) Brandon Stewart (1988–1990) Josh Keaton (1991) John Christian Graas (1992–1993) Anthony Birch (1995–1997) Corey Padnos (2000–2003) Benjamin Bryan (2006) Quinn Lord (2008–2009) Austin Lux (2011) Alex Garfin (2015) Jude Perry (2016)
Information
Gender	Male
Family	Rerun van Pelt (younger brother) Lucy van Pelt (older sister) Blanket-hating grandmother Unnamed parents Marion (aunt)

Linus van Pelt is a character in Charles M. Schulz's comic strip Peanuts. The best friend of Charlie Brown, Linus is also the younger brother of Lucy van Pelt and older brother of Rerun van Pelt. He first appeared on September 19, 1952, but was not mentioned by name until three days later. He was first referred to two months earlier, on July 14. Linus spoke his first words in 1954, the same year he was shown with his security blanket.

The character's creator, Charles M. Schulz, has said of the character, "Linus, my serious side, is the house intellectual, bright, well-informed which, I suppose may contribute to his feelings of insecurity."

Lee Mendelson, producer of the majority of the Peanuts television specials, has said that Linus is his favorite character:

Though young, Linus is very intelligent, and acts as the strip's philosopher and theologian, often quoting the Gospels. Juvenile aspects of his character are also displayed; for example, Linus is almost always depicted holding his blue security blanket—for which he is often mocked by other characters—and often sucks his thumb. He invented his own legendary being, the Great Pumpkin, who, Linus claims, appears every Halloween at the most "sincere" pumpkin patch, bearing gifts. Linus is the only person who believes in the Great Pumpkin, although he occasionally temporarily convinces other characters the Great Pumpkin is real, only to stubbornly maintain his faith when they lose theirs. On one occasion, Linus had a commanding lead in the polls for school president—until he brought up the subject of the Great Pumpkin, at which point he was nearly laughed out of the election. (He ended up winning anyway by one vote, cast by his opponent, who decided that Linus would make a better school president.) A similar occurrence was featured in a strip with the same storyline; Charlie Brown asks him why he had to bring up the Great Pumpkin and Linus gives his reasons. After Linus says that Charlie Brown is looking at him as if he was crazy, Charlie Brown responds, "I'm looking at you like I could've been vice president!"