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John Erwin, who voiced childhood characters like He-Man and Reggie Mantle from The Archie Show, has died at the age of 88.

Erwin passed away of natural causes “around Dec. 20” in his home in Camarillo, Calif., per a statement released by his PR firm Celebworx.

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“Working with John Erwin was a ballad of irreverence, professionalism and surprise,” Alan Oppenheimer, who voiced the evil Skeletor on He-Man and the Masters of the Universe,...

It’s a sad day in Eternia as news about the passing of John Erwin, the voice actor behind He-Man, Morris the Cat, and other notable pop culture icons. Erwin, a Saturday morning staple of the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s, died last month of natural causes at his home in Camarillo, California. He was 88. Celebworx, the PR firm representing Mr. Erwin, announced his death this Friday afternoon.

Few people of the Elder Millenial generation (people born between 1980 and 1985) grew up without hearing John Erwin as He-man, Master of the Universe, match wits with Skeletor (Alan Oppenheimer) while battling the forces of evil. In addition to voicing He-Man and the Archie Comics character Reggie, Erwin played the unenthusiastic spokescat for 9Lives brand cat food, Morris the Cat. In the promos, Morris, a large orange tabby tomcat, snarkily remarked about being uninterested in anything except when it came to a delicious can of 9Lives cat food.

John Erwin, the voice behind such iconic animated and animal TV characters as He-Man, Morris The Cat, the snobby Reggie of the Archie cartoons and many other Saturday morning favorites of the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s, died last month of natural causes at his home in Camarillo, California. He was 88.

His death was announced today by his PR firm Celebworx.

Melendy Britt, who voiced the character She-Ra, superheroine sister of superhero He-Man in Filmation’s Masters of the Universe world, said in a statement, “For 40 years, John Erwin was not only my brother on screen, he was my friend.”

“To have ‘my brother’ pass on is a tremdeous sorrow even though I know life is not infinite,” Britt wrote on Facebook. “The tears I have are because John was such a special quiet man and we shared a very special relationship in those roles as twin brother and sister…He...

John Erwin, the reclusive actor who provided the voices for the heroic title character in He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and the vain frenemy Reggie Mantle in a series of Archie cartoons, has died. He was 88.

Erwin died of natural causes “around Dec. 20” in his home in Camarillo, California, his reps at the PR firm Celebworx announced.

For nearly a decade starting in 1969, Erwin was heard in dozens of TV commercials as the snarky Morris the Cat, the finicky orange tabby who would eat nothing but the 9Lives brand of cat food. The hugely successful campaign was created by the Leo Burnett advertising firm.

Earlier, Erwin was seen on camera when he recurred as the cattle driver Teddy on CBS’ Rawhide, starring Clint Eastwood.

For Filmmation, Erwin voiced the blond, muscular He-Man (and his alter ego, Prince Adam) on He-Man and the Masters of the Universe from 1983-...

Andrew Younger Sep 2, 2016

Tarzan, Space Sentinels, The New Adventures Of Batman, Flash Gordon, Bravestarr and more, as we salute Filmation...

For a child of the 1970s and 80s, nothing readied you for a half hour of quality entertainment quite like the Filmation logo. Immortalised by their phenomenal success with He-Man And The Masters Of The Universe, and its spin off She-Ra: Princess Of Power, Filmation produced some of the most fondly remembered animated series to grace the small screen.

Over a period of 26 years - in tandem with classic Doctor Who funnily enough - the company's writers, artists and producers delivered a staggering amount of programming. While naysayers point to Filmation's penchant for reusing a stockpile of rotoscoped body movements, or the heavy handedness of its moralising and educational content - children on the other hand, thrilled to an irresistible mixture of action, adventure and superhuman heroes.

Now something of a lost art form,...

The Plastic Man Comedy Adventure Show (Warner Home Video, $44.98) preserves all 35 exploits of America’s most pliable superhero from his 1979-80 Saturday morning series. Long before Mr. Fantastic, Elastigirl (a.k.a. Mrs. Incredible) and Elastic Man, there was Plastic Man, a hero my Dad read and liked in the 1940s. Jack Cole (another of comicdom’s troubled geniuses) created the fun-loving character for Quality Comics in 1941, both writing and inventively illustrating the stories. Since Plas (as he was nicknamed) was, shall we say, flexible, Cole broke comic book conventions with his innovative layouts. See Forms Stressed To Their Limits: Jack Cole & Plastic Man, the excellent (and beautifully designed) book by Art Spiegelman & Chip Kidd for more on Cole’s talents and troubles. Anyhow, Quality’s major heroes (notably Blackhawk and Plas) got sold to DC comics in the late 1950s. Every so often in the intervening half-century, Plastic Man...

Apparently the Super Friends set Warner Brothers released a little while back was encouraging enough to warrant further plunging into the depths of their animation vault. Now, you can complement the other set with The Plastic Man Comedy/Adventure Show, a now-marginalized character in the DC canon. The more avid comic book fans amongst us will recognize the red, yellow and black spandex clad hero, but for the newcomers amongst us he’s essentially the original Mr. Fantastic, he stretches into any number of shapes to fit the needs of the moment. Debuting almost exactly twenty years before the Fantastic Four, Plastic Man (Michael Bell) has a more comical twist with villains like the plant-loving Weed or a militant clam and friends helping him along the way like Hula Hula (Joe Baker) and the “plastic elastic loverboy’s” oft neglected girlfriend, Penny (Melendy Britt).

Visually, many people will find Plastic...

Warner Home Video is apparently readying the Plastic Man Comedy Adventure Hour for a DVD release. On Friday, Mark Evanier mentioned on his News from Me blog, “This afternoon, I had to go out to the Warner Brothers lot to be interviewed for little behind-the-scenes videos that will appear on two upcoming DVDs of cartoon shows. One is of the 1979 Saturday morning Plastic Man series, which I worked on for one season. The other is of the 1985 syndicated Jetsons revival, which I worked on for about an hour.”

TV Shows on DVD notes that when they surveyed people in 2007, the series topped their charts. When a Warner exec was asked during a chat earlier this year, hey replied, "We are looking at all of these, and hope to have news for you in 2009."

The Plastic Man Comedy/Adventure Show ran from 1979 to 1981 on ABC. Produced by Ruby-Spears, it aired right...