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Lou Scheimer
Born	Louis Scheimer (1928-10-19)October 19, 1928 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died	October 17, 2013(2013-10-17) (aged 84) Tarzana, California, U.S.
Other names	Erik Gunden, Erika Lane
Alma mater	Carnegie Mellon University
Occupation(s)	Animator, voice actor
Years active	1957–2013
Spouse	Jay Wucher ​ (died 2009)​
Children	2, includingErika

Louis Scheimer (October 19, 1928 – October 17, 2013) was an American producer and voice actor who was one of the original founders ofFilmation. He was also credited as anexecutive producer of many of its cartoons.^[1]

Scheimer was the son of aGerman Jew who, according to family legend, had to leave Germany in the early 1920s after punching a youngAdolf Hitler in 1921 or 1922, "well before" theBeer Hall Putsch.^[2]

Scheimer graduated from Carnegie Tech University (nowCarnegie Mellon University) inPittsburgh,Pennsylvania, with a bachelor's degree in fine arts in 1952.

In the mid-1950s, Scheimer was appointed to the position of art director while working atLarry Harmon Pictures on the made-for-TVBozo andPopeye cartoons. He formed a close working relationship with formerDisney animatorHal Sutherland, with the two later becoming business partners.Larry Harmon eventually closed the studio in 1961. Scheimer and Sutherland went to work at a small company called True Line.^[3] While working there, they were contracted by SIB Productions, a Japanese firm with U.S. offices in Chicago, who approached them about producing a cartoon calledRod Rocket. The two agreed to take on the work and also took on a project for Family Films,Life of Christ, a series of ten short animated films based on the life ofChrist.Paramount Pictures soon purchased SIB Productions, and the contract allowed True Line to hire additional staff, such as former radiodisc jockeyNorm Prescott. Scheimer and Sutherland formed a close relationship with their new co-worker.

In 1962, Scheimer, Sutherland and Prescott eventually left True Line, and Scheimer began independently working on commercials. He figured that he could form his own company to produce animation. In September of that year, he, Sutherland and Ira Epstein, who had worked for Harmon but had left the firm, formed Filmation Associates. The company's name was invented because according to Scheimer, "We were working on film, but doing animation." Prescott joined them soon after the company's formation, and the trio were the company's main producers.^[4][3] They immediately started work onJourney Back to Oz, an animated sequel to theMGM filmThe Wizard of Oz and loosely based on theOz series of books byL. Frank Baum. Due to financial problems, it took them about a decade to complete the film.

In the meantime, Filmation turned their attention to a more successful medium,network television. For the next few years they madetelevision commercials and some other projects for other companies and made an unsuccessful pilot film for aMarx Brothers cartoon series. They also tried to develop an original series namedThe Adventures of Stanley Stoutheart (later renamedYank and Doodle), but they were never able to sell it and almost closed down.^[3] That was until they were approached byDC Comics editorMort Weisinger to do a cartoon based onSuperman.Superman premiered on September 10, 1966, and was followed by several of the other DC superheroes, and then, in 1968, the firstArchie Show. Both series greatly helped Filmation's popularity to increase into the 1970s, when it scored big with several of its series, such asFat Albert and the Cosby Kids andStar Trek: The Animated Series.^[5][6][7] ForStar Trek: The Animated Series, Scheimer won theDaytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Entertainment - Children's Series.^[8]

Early in Filmation's history, Scheimer also contributed a number of guest or secondary voices for the various productions. Most notably, he provided the voice of Dumb Donald onFat Albert and the Cosby Kids.^[9] He was also the voice of Legal Eagle and theBrown Hornet's sidekick Stinger,^[10] and did voice-over narration during theopening credits of the majority of Filmation shows and cartoons.^[11] InJason of Star Command andSpace Academy, he was consistently heard as generic voices over intercoms.^[12] In the live-action seriesThe Ghost Busters, which starredForrest Tucker andLarry Storch with Bob Burns, he was the voice of Zero, the unseen boss of the main characters.^[13]

Scheimer also provided the voices of Stubby onThe New Adventures of Gilligan,^[14]N'kima onTarzan, Lord of the Jungle,^[15][16]Bat-Mite,the Bat-Computer andClayface onThe New Adventures of Batman,^[17] M.O. onSpace Sentinels,^[18] Trouble, Spinner and Scarab onTarzan and the Super 7'sSuperstretch and Microwoman andWeb Woman,^[19][16]Dinny onFabulous Funnies,Tom Cat,Jerry Mouse,Spike,Tuffy,Slick Wolf andBarney Bear onThe Tom and Jerry Comedy Show,^[20] the Olympian Computer onSport Billy,^[21] Gremlin onThe New Adventures of Flash Gordon, Bumper onGilligan's Planet,^[22] and Tracy the Gorilla onGhostbusters.^[23][24]

The Filmation studio had emerged as a leading company in television animation, but it was no longer an independent company. The studio was purchased by theTelePrompTer Corporation in 1969.Westinghouse Electric Corporation, through itsGroup W Productions division, acquired Filmation along with its purchase of TelePrompTer's cable and entertainment properties in 1981. Despite this, Scheimer continued leading the company.^[25] He played a significant role in the creation of the cartoonsHe-Man and the Masters of the Universe andBraveStarr. As well as the executive producer, he was also co-credited for the series' musical score under the pseudonym "Erika Lane" (which combined the names of his daughterErika and son Lane).^[26] It had also been used as a character name on the 1967 Filmation seriesFantastic Voyage. Scheimer became avoice actor for the show (as he had done for many of his company's previous productions), going under the pseudonym "Erik Gunden". The last name was taken from his father's original surname: "Gundenscheimer" (which was later shortened to Scheimer). The first name was Lou's middle name, which he was not given by his parents, but instead by his wife Jay, who felt that he should have one. Scheimer's contribution to the cast was, in fact, most notable as he voiced several supporting characters, includingOrko (and other characters with a similarSmurfs-voice),Stratos,King Randor and others. The reason that Scheimer performed the voices for so many supporting characters was that the "official" voice actors were contracted to perform no more than three different voices per episode. Since there were usually only three regular cast members working on each show, Scheimer would fill in the rest of the male cast. This is also why his wife and daughter did various small parts in the first season ofHe-Man, with Erika Scheimer performing supporting female voices and occasional voice-acting for young boy characters.^[27]

During the second season ofHe-Man, and all ofShe-Ra: Princess of Power, Erika received an onscreen credit as an actor and also directed the voice actors, and she and her father recorded the remaining voices on their own later, because he did not see himself as a "proper" actor and was ashamed of recording with the other voice actors due to severe budget restrictions.^{[28][29][30][31]} The pitch of his voice was often changed by using a "harmonizer", which could control the pitch without altering the speed of the sound.^[27] The animated series also pioneered a type of programming known asfirst-run syndication. Another first was the storyline being based on anaction figure toy; before this time,FCC regulations had prohibited any type of children's programming being based on a toy. Scheimer transformedHe-Man from a graphically violent version ofConan the Barbarian into a pro-social character, who imparted a life lesson to impressionable viewers in each episode.^[32][28]

In 1989, Westinghouse shut down Filmation and sold the studio's properties toL'Oréal. Scheimer effectively went into retirement after the end of his studio.^[25][33] In the late 1990s, he returned to the field of animation. A Dutch investment company, Dreamweavers, NV., approached him with a concept based on an off-kilter Dutchman's renderings of characters aimed at young adults. Scheimer went into production onRobin and the Dreamweavers, an adult animatedfeature film. Robin, the first human to be born in cyberspace, battles Triple XXX: an evil siren who desires an earthly body, and who gains power through mankind's baser carnal desires. The movie, which has been compared to the majority ofRalph Bakshi's work, was never distributed.^[34] Scheimer also provided consultation work for Gang of Seven (G7) Animation.^[35]

The Lou Scheimer Gallery at the ToonSeum, a museum of comic and cartoon art in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is named in his honor.^[36][37][38]

Scheimer was married to Joanne "Jay" Wucher (1931–2009) until her death. They had one son, Lane (b. 1956), and one daughter,Erika (b. 1960).^[39][40][41] In 2012, he married Mary Ann Wucher, Jay's sister-in-law.^[42]

Scheimer underwentquadruple bypass surgery in the late 1990s and was subsequently diagnosed withParkinson's disease. In 2012, he was honored with anInkpot Award for his contributions to animation.^[43][44] He died from the disease at his home inTarzana, California, on October 17, 2013, two days before his 85th birthday.^[33]

• Lou Scheimer & Andy Mangels.Lou Scheimer: Creating the Filmation Generation, 2nd edn. Raleigh, NC: TwoMorrows Pub., 2015.

• Lou Scheimer atIMDb
• Lou Scheimer discography atDiscogs

• Guide To Animated Star Trek - Filmation Associates
• Animated Views - A Fond Look Back At Filmation (Part 1) (October 31, 2004)
• Animated Views - A Fond Look Back At Filmation (Part 2) (December 10, 2006)
• LouScheimerProductions.com - My Dad: The Trend Setter at theWayback Machine (archived March 22, 2004)

• The Unofficial Isis Appreciation Page - Interview (July 2002)
• Masters Cast - Comic-Con Interview (QuickTime) (July 30, 2006)
• Retro Crush - David Teague Interview
• The-Trades Interview - R.J. Carter (June 11, 2007)

• 1928 births
• 2013 deaths
• 20th-century American male actors
• Businesspeople from Pittsburgh
• Animators from Pennsylvania
• American animated film producers
• American people of German-Jewish descent
• Television producers from Pennsylvania
• American male voice actors
• Carnegie Mellon University College of Fine Arts alumni
• Filmation people
• Inkpot Award winners
• Deaths from Parkinson's disease in California
• Male actors from Pittsburgh
• DreamWorks Classics people

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