Melville A. Leven (born November 11, 1914, in Chicago, Illinois; died December 17, 2007 in California) known professionally as Mel Leven was an American composer and lyricist who had a long association with the Walt Disney Company, although he wrote songs for Peggy Lee (Every Time), The Andrews Sisters (Commoners Boogy), Nat King Cole, Dean Martin, and Les Brown, among others.
Leven's most famous song is arguably Cruella de Vil from the 1961 Disney animated feature One Hundred and One Dalmatians. That same year, he also wrote the story and new lyrics to sixteen tunes for the film Babes in Toyland. In later years, he wrote songs, stories, and did voice-over work for the PBS children's series Big Blue Marble, and well as working on a number of projects for television commercials.
His work has been honored with two Emmy Awards and two Peabody Awards. According to his son, Mel Leven died on December 17, 2007. He was 93.
Mel Leven has a son, Bill Leven and a daughter Laurie Fondiler. Mel Leven also did voice overs as well as songwriting - original voice of Snoopy and was in Snap, Crackle, Pop commercials. Mel also wrote the Little Ranger Nature series.