Lou Scheimer

Lou Scheimer was an American animator, producer, and voice actor born on October 19, 1928, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, who co-founded Filmation Associates in 1962 and built it into the largest animation operation in the United States by number of employees in the early 1980s. From a single-room office in Southern California, he presided over decades of Saturday-morning television, producing properties ranging from He-Man and the Masters of the Universe to Star Trek: The Animated Series and Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids. Scheimer also used Filmation’s output to push for racial diversity and gender equality in children’s programming at a time when those goals were unusual for the genre. He died on October 17, 2013, in Tarzana, California, two days before what would have been his 85th birthday.

Key facts

  • Born: 19 October 1928
  • Birthplace: Pittsburgh
  • Died: 17 October 2013
  • Place of death: Tarzana
  • Country: United States
  • Occupation: film producer; voice actor; animator; manufacturer
  • Education: Carnegie Mellon University
  • Awards: Inkpot Award

Early Life and Education

Scheimer grew up in Pittsburgh’s Homewood neighborhood, the son of German Jewish immigrants. The community around him was ethnically and racially diverse, and he later credited that environment with shaping his approach to representation in children’s media. He went on to study at Carnegie Mellon University, earning the formal grounding in visual art that would define his professional path.

Before launching his own venture, Scheimer was appointed art director at Larry Harmon Pictures in the mid-1950s, where the studio produced television cartoons featuring Bozo the Clown and Popeye. The position gave him direct exposure to the mechanics and economics of producing animation for the still-new medium of television.

Founding Filmation Associates

In September 1962, Scheimer co-founded Filmation Associates alongside Hal Sutherland. The startup capital was a $5,000 loan from his mother-in-law, and the company’s first address was a one-room office in Southern California. From those constrained beginnings, the studio moved quickly to fill the appetite American broadcasters had for animated programming.

Filmation’s first produced television series was Rod Rocket, a space-travel-themed animated show that aired in 1963. The company found its footing commercially in 1966 when it produced The New Adventures of Superman for DC Comics. The series was described as the first animated adaptation of the character since the Fleischer Studios shorts of the 1940s, and it became the studio’s first major hit.

Building a Studio Empire

Over the following two decades, Scheimer produced or executive-produced a catalogue that covered several distinct corners of children’s and family television. The list includes He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, She-Ra: Princess of Power, Star Trek: The Animated Series, Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, Ghostbusters, Shazam!, Tarzan Lord of the Jungle, Flash Gordon, and BraveStarr.

By the early 1980s, Filmation had grown into the largest animation operation in the United States by number of employees. That scale came with institutional pressure: in 1987, Scheimer announced that some animation work would be shipped overseas, a decision that angered Filmation workers and their union and prompted several employees to quit.

The studio’s independent run ended in 1989 when Filmation’s parent company, Westinghouse, sold the studio to a French investor group. That group closed the Woodland Hills plant and dismissed most of the staff, effectively ending the company. The rights to the Filmation library were eventually acquired by DreamWorks Animation, through DreamWorks Classics, in 2012.

Advocacy Through Animation

Scheimer’s Homewood upbringing left a visible mark on his programming choices. He advocated for racial diversity and gender equality in children’s television through specific Filmation productions, including She-Ra, Fat Albert, Isis, and BraveStarr. These were not incidental details of casting or character design but goals he described as deliberate.

Filmation’s 1968-1969 production The Archie Show offers a different dimension of the studio’s cultural reach. The series featured the character band performing bubblegum pop, and the song “Sugar, Sugar” reached number one on the Billboard charts in 1969, an unusual crossover from animated series to mainstream pop success.

Voice Work and the Erik Gunden Pseudonym

Beyond producing, Scheimer worked as a voice actor on Filmation productions. He performed under the pseudonym “Erik Gunden.” The name was assembled from two personal sources: Erik was his middle name, given to him by his wife Jay rather than by his parents, and Gunden came from a compressed form of his family’s original surname, Gundenscheimer.

Recognition and Legacy

Awards came steadily in the later part of Scheimer’s life. In 2003, he received the Annie Award for Special Achievement in Animation. At the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con, he received the Inkpot Award, which honors individual contributions to animation and related fields.

Pittsburgh also formally acknowledged his career. On November 12, 2011, the city declared Lou Scheimer Day and marked it with the dedication of the Lou Scheimer Gallery at the ToonSeum, a museum of comic and cartoon art in Pittsburgh.

Scheimer died from Parkinson’s disease on October 17, 2013, at his home in Tarzana, California. His 2012 memoir had included the full account of his family history, his career at Filmation, and the family legend about his father’s departure from Germany.

Did you know

  • The pseudonym “Erik Gunden” that Scheimer used for his voice acting work was put together from two personal pieces: Erik was his middle name, which his wife Jay gave him rather than his parents, and Gunden was shortened from part of his family’s original surname, Gundenscheimer. (funtrivia.com)
  • Family legend held that Scheimer’s German Jewish father was forced to leave Germany in the early 1920s after knocking out a young Adolf Hitler during a beer-hall altercation. Scheimer included the story in his 2012 memoir. (cartoonbrew.com)
  • The Archie Show, produced by Filmation and broadcast from 1968 to 1969, featured the fictional Archie band playing bubblegum pop. One of the songs associated with the series, “Sugar, Sugar,” reached number one on the Billboard charts in 1969. (primevideo.com)

Data sources

Data updated: 2026-10-30