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 (book) the character from The Royal Literary Fund, whom the estate of Milne had sold the rights to. The $350M purchase gave Disney full rights to the franchise until copyright expires in 2026. Winnie-the-Pooh (book) Winnie-the-Pooh (1926) is the first volume of stories about Winnie-the-Pooh, written by A. A. Milne and illustrated by E. H. Shepard. It is followed by "The House at Pooh Corner". The book focuses on the adventures of a teddy bear called Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends Piglet, a small toy pig; Eeyore, a toy donkey; Owl, a live owl; and Rabbit, a live rabbit. The characters of