A Legend Passes Away: Iconic He-Man voice actor John Erwin has died.

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