Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore Sterling Holloway elected not to continue the role of Pooh and Sebastian Cabot, the original narrator, died shortly after the release of the feature film "The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh". The deaths of Junius Matthews in 1978 and Barbara Luddy in 1979 also necessitated changes in Rabbit's and Kanga's portrayers; Will Ryan began a three-year stint as Rabbit's voice in this featurette while Julie McWhirter portrayed Kanga only once. Additionally, Laurie Main, Hal Smith, Will Ryan, and Kim Christianson later appear in the live-action series "Welcome to Pooh Corner" as the Narrator, Winnie the Pooh, Owl, Rabbit, and
Winnie the Pooh (Disney character) 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. The live-action series "Welcome to Pooh Corner" ran on the Disney Channel from 1983 to 1986. In 1988, Disney launched the animated series "The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh", which aired from