<P> Winnie the Pooh is a fictional character and the title character from the Disney media franchise based on A.A. Milne's Winnie - the - Pooh (1926) and The House at Pooh Corner (1928). Pooh is one of the most popular Disney characters and was included in TV Guide's list of the 50 greatest cartoon characters of all time in 2002 and also has his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame . </P> <P> Disney's Pooh was originally voiced by Sterling Holloway (1966--1977) in three featurettes that were later used as segments in The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977). Hal Smith (1980--1987) took over for the 1981 short Winnie the Pooh Discovers the Seasons, and would maintain the role until Jim Cummings (1988--present) began voicing Pooh in the animated series The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1988--1991). Cummings continues to voice Pooh (as well as Tigger) to this day . </P> <P> In 1961, Walt Disney Productions licensed certain film and other rights to the characters, stories and trademarks from Stephen Slesinger, Inc. and the estate of A.A. Milne. and made a series of cartoon films about him . The early cartoons were based on several of the original stories and the distinctive images made popular by Stephen Slesinger, Inc. during the 1930s through 1960s . Alongside the cartoon versions, which Disney adapted from Slesinger, Slesinger's simplified lines and pastel color adaptations of Shepard's classical drawings are now marketed under the description "Classic Pooh". </P> <P> In 1977, Disney released the animated feature The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, introducing a new character named Gopher (which Gopher acknowledges by proclaiming, "I'm not in the book, you know"). The film comprises three segments originally released as separate featurettes: Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree (1966), Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (1968), and Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too (1974). The 1977 release featured new bridging material and a new ending, as it had been Walt Disney's original intention to make a feature . A fourth featurette, Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore, was released in 1983 . Since Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore (1983), Jim Cummings started providing the new voice for Pooh . </P>

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