Written by We have some incredibly sad news to report. John Erwin, the legendary voice of He-Man from the classic 1980’s Filmation cartoon series “He-Man and the Masters of the Universe“, has died.
Born in 1936, John had quite a wonderful career in the entertainment industry, starting impressively with a reoccurring role in the hit television series “Rawhide“.
John Erwin even voiced Morris the Cat, the star of the popular, long-running television commercials for 9-Lives cat food that began in 1968.
Yet… there was no other role that John Erwin played where he touched more people’s hearts than his role as He-Man in the classic 1983 cartoon “He-Man and the Masters of the Universe.”
John Erwin voiced other great characters in Eternia too, dozens of characters from Webstor to Granamyr. But it was John’s powerful performance as He-Man… noble and honest, strong yet warm, that embodied the spirit of He-Man perfectly… as well as Prince Adam too.
We can’t overstate this but John Erwin was He-Man… and it has been that way for over 40 years.
And today we learned that John Erwin had died of natural causes last year… “around Dec. 20” in his home in Camarillo, California.
Alan Oppenheimer, the voice of He-Man’s evil nemesis Skeletor, had this to say about the passing of John:
“Working with John Erwin was a ballad of irreverence, professionalism and surprise. He was a series actor, writer, performer of commercials, musician, painter and an all-around lovely gentleman, an indelible addition to my life.” - Alan Oppenheimer
Actress Melendy Britt, who played He-Man’s twin sister She-Ra in the 1985 television series “She-Ra Princess of Power” and starred with John in a Christmas Special and multiple She-Ra episodes (some that formed the theatrical film “He-Man and She-Ra: The Secret of the Sword”) made the following statement:
So what else can we say? This is all very hard to process. The power of John Erwin’s voice as our hero He-Man entered our hearts and our minds of so many of us as children… and he has never left. It is not hyperbole to say John helped guide us. He reassured us. He helped shape us into the men and women we have become today. And in our hearts he has never left. We mean it. He has never left. And now everything has changed. Everything feels a bit more cold.
John, you will always…. always… be “the most powerful man in the universe” to us, and this world feels less good with you not in it. We hope you are in a better place. We thank you, we will miss you, and we will never, never forget you.
Our deepest heartfelt condolences goes out to John Erwin’s family and loved ones.
John Erwin
December 5, 1936 — December 20, 2024
Rest in Peace.
Postscript: Thanks to everyone for reaching out to us to let us know about John's sad passing. We appreciate every single one of you very much. So very much. Sorry this news report took so long. This was incredibly hard to write. -AJ
Update: We have created a Tribute Video to John Erwin in his iconic role as He-Man. You can watch it directly on YouTube by CLICKING HERE, or watch it embedded below:
News has broken that John Erwin died last month aged 88. RIP.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/john-erwin-he-man-archie-voice-actor-1236123692/
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/john-erwin-he-man-archie-voice-actor-1236123692/
No one has done a better job at calling on the power of Grayskull. His very specific cadence was absolutely perfect and no one has come close to matching it, and probably never will.
😢
I am so shocked and saddened by this loss. Love & Light to John and his family! ❤️
He-Man will always sound like him as far as I’m concerned. RIP.
Damn. Just damn. I wish I could have gotten to meet you. Shake your hand and thank you for everything. My childhood was so much better for having you in it. RIP Mr. Erwin.
R.i.P. The Filmation show is still my favorite cartoon. I wrote a letter once to him about the joy he brought my kids and I and he wrote back. I wasn’t sure he’d write back because I heard he was reclusive, but he did and he even autographed some MOTU trading cards I had sent as well.
Nooooooooooooooo and I never got to meet him 😢 😔 😪 😢 😭 😿
Rest in Power sir. Thank you for giving this once bullied kid the confidence to know “I have the power!" Thank you for being our He-Man.
i was very moved by melendy’s eulogy, such a loving “sister" she is.
john was the man, john is THE he-man. forever!
his was the voice that breathed life into the hero of our childhoods, he was as jovial and bashful as adam and as he was commanding and courageous as he-man. “strong enough to be gentle" as the iconic peter cullen would say.
john’s presence will be felt forever in the classic filmation shows, each and every time we re-watch, or every time we read a MoTU comic book or even so much as look at he-man’s action figures or pictures.
Thank you for acknowledging Melendy’s beautiful goodbye to John. You can tell how she wrote about him how much she loved him.
While I’m not a life long fan, John was one of the greats. I hope he is enjoying Preternia.
He died last December? This took a long time to let the public know. Whatever, John Irwin was a true icon in animation history. Rest in peace He-Man.
@caliban He was a VERY private person and rarely had any photos released of himself. He never went to conventions either, as far as I’m aware. I’m sure his family also wanted privacy to grieve after his passing. So, it’s no surprise that the announcement was delayed.
Beside Peter Cullen and Lorenzo Music, I think Erwin was probably the definitive voice of 80s animation.
As a kid, whenever Erwin bellowed “I have the power", the performance was so raw and full of command and might that it actually frightened me. Weird I know, because he’s such a good hearted character, but that demonstrated a ‘mastery’ of the role, He-Man with anyone else never felt as real as he was, and that he could affect a viewer in that way with a couple of lines. Watching the show, you beleived in him, and when he spoke to you about there being no “magic drugs" in the PSAs at the end, you believed he was speaking to, and looking out for, you (I wish the Netflix shows had done some of those for a laugh btw, even the 2002 show did them)
The world I feel is full of magic, and his voice was just that, a touch of magic, and a good one.
We have the power, so can you.
Sad news. Thank you John for being He-Man, and providing so many happy memories for so many people.
RIP.
Such sad news – John was the definitive He-Man. His voice embodied the character perfectly. RIP.
I am completely devastated. Thank you John and goodbye.
I was so sad when I saw this! But Melendy Britt’s post made me smile and cry at the same time! What an awesome person she is! I met here once here in Knoxville TN, and she is a wonderful person..so I know that this is from her heart and it made me hurt for her!
Good Journey John….and rest well.
Rest in peace 😢
I did not grew up with his voice since there was only the dubbed version; but as soon as I first heard his OG voice it became the definitive voice for me and as soon as I had the chance to watch all He-Man and She-Ra episodes in the original language I did.
Although he spells his last name wrong, this still feels like a legit, interesting comment I found in the Deadline.com comments section:
“For the last 40 years or so John Irwin was a close friend and sometimes coworker and the world of voice acting. I first heard him on some early animation projects from the 70s and was absolutely knocked out by his versatility and accuracy at maintaining multiple characters and his total originality. Many cartoon characters, especially those in series, our take offs on other celebrities. John‘s work was almost 100% original. He gave birth to those characters and they lived a long time. Some by imitation from others, Sambi reruns, but most of them in the memories of those of us who enjoyed those programs and even the commercials that John was featured in serious
Yes he was extremely private, and where he lived with his phone number was but his address was at Cetera at Cetera at Cetera. It was because he loved his work he loved his family but somehow felt fans didn’t really understand the process of creating those things for cartoons and didn’t want to be constantly required to explain everything from Ground Zero to the success of the shows.
In his private life he did live a quiet life in Camarillo California. He was first attracted to the area because it had a wonderful airport. He had been an amateur pilot for many years and wanted to start over. After finding out the physical requirements, he figured he had passed the age where it would be practical. But aviation was something important in his life, he had flown many hours and personally produced and directed a feature length film on an amateur aviator. He was also crazy about the music. He played the wind instruments the various saxophones and the clarinet. His saxophone was an antique king model that is very hard to find these days but he preferred it to the more modern manufactured ones and could really make it sound great. His most consuming hobby was his art and he took The larger of the two bedrooms in his house and converted it into a professional art studio, choosing to use the smaller guestroom type room as his bedroom. Since I was a neighbor and had worked for many of the same people he had over the years we would meet regularly for lunch and usually talk about the old gang. Pretty soon that gang grew smaller and smaller. Yes, I can still call a few of them and get together to talk about old times… Most of us who made people laugh in animated films and other Productions don’t like to go in for nostalgia, it isn’t really terribly comfortable. But up until the end John Erwin lived A great life and to all of you who admired him and had trouble reaching him, you should be proud of the fact that he knew of you was proud to have a lot of fans and privately thank you all for supporting him. I know the simple phrase “he will be missed“ it’s sort of corny, but he will… I think towards the end he knew it and was very very grateful."
I go away for a few days and come back to the most traumatic news ever. My hero has left this world. Why couldn’t John make one appearance at a con? I would have traveled anywhere to tell him what he meant to me. Now he’s gone. 💔
This one really hurts.
…yeah.
🙁
Is there an interview with John online? I would like to hear about his experiences playing He-Man and some of his other characters.
John was so reclusive I don’t think he did any interviews.
Rest in peace, Mr. Erwin.
Thank you for all the memories and for always being our hero!
John Erwin was also the only surviving cast member of the Archie cartoons series for Filmation animation he was the voice of Reginald Reggie Mantle.
Voice of our childhoods. Voice of a generation. By all accounts a gentleman, just like his most famous character.
I hope he knew how so many of us appreciated his work. Even now, 40+ years later I can hear his voice and I’m 5 years old and just for a brief moment everything is okay.
Thank you John.
Is there any archive footage of John recording dialogue for MOTU in the Filmation studio? I feel like James Eatock would know for sure…
If it exists I have yet to see it.
Just like Kevin Conroy after him… Erwin’s voice cannot be separated from the character on screen.He was the voice of reason, the moral compass inside every child’s head growing up in the 80s.Rest in Peace, John… you made this world a better place for many of us.
I’ll admit this passing hit me hard. His voice work not just from He-Man is outstanding. I was watching a Filmation episode when I came across the news. He will be missed for sure. It is a bit sad he never got to record anything for any new He-Man like Alan did.
@thedoctor While it is a bit sad, he purposely chose to live like a recluse. It’s not like he wasn’t aware of the huge fan adoration and demand. That’s entirely on him.
@durendal Yeah it was his choice which I totally respect. His voice will live on rent free in my head regardless.