Winnie-the-Pooh

Winnie-the-Pooh, often referred to as just Pooh, (born August 21, 1921), is a world famous fictional bear created by A. A. Milne and later made famous by Disney. He first appeared in the books Winnie-the-Pooh (1926) and The House at Pooh Corner (1928). He was also featured in many of Milne's poetry before being used by Disney to become one of its most successful franchises of all time. It is estimated that Winnie the Pooh features and merchandise generate as much revenue as Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, and Pluto combined.

Pooh was named after a plush toy owned by Milne's son Christopher Robin, (who named the teddy bear after a black bear in the London Zoo, named Winnipeg, after Winnipeg, Canada, where the bear was bought by a Canadian officer during World War One) who would also become a leading character in the Pooh stories, in fact, the only human character. Other of Christopher Robin's toys were later translated into story characters, except for Owl and Rabbit. Christopher Robin's toy bear is now on display at the Donnell Library Center Central Children's Room in New York.

In 1961, Disney purchased the rights to Pooh from Shirley Slesinger whose husband had commercialized Pooh since the 1930s. Since then, Disney released several featurettes starring Winnie the Pooh (originally voiced by Sterling Holloway) and related characters, including theatrical feature-length films The Tigger Movie, Piglet's Big Movie, and Pooh's Heffalump Movie. Pooh also featured in several video games, including both Kingdom Hearts games.

In Soviet Russia, three Winnie-the-Pooh (or Vinni Puh) stories were made into celebrated cartoons by Soyuzmultfilm in which Pooh was voiced by Yevgeny Leonov, looking distinctly different from the yellow and red Disney incarnation - a brown and black almost mountain bear appearance.

On April 11, 2006, Winnie the Pooh was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6834 Hollywood Boulevard.