"Peanuts" is a syndicated daily and Sunday comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz, which ran from October 2, 1950, to February 13, 2000 (the day after Schulz's death), continuing in reruns afterward. The strip is considered to be one of the most popular and influential in the history of the medium, with 17,897 strips published in all. At its peak, "Peanuts" ran in over 2,600 newspapers, with a readership of 355 million in 75 countries, and was translated into 21 languages.