The iconic voice of Optimus Prime in cinema and video games has passed away.
Peter Cullen, the iconic voice actor behind Optimus Prime, has died at 85. Cullen has voiced Optimus Prime in Transformers media since the 1980s animated TV series, The Transformers. He returned to voice the character in a bevy of Transformers video game adaptations, including 2007’s Transformers: The Game and 2010’s Transformers: War for Cybertron.
Peter Cullen dies at 85
Peter Cullen, a Canadian voice actor who has proven to be a formative part of many childhoods thanks to his longtime role as Optimus Prime in the Transformers franchise, has died at 85. While a cause of death was not immediately made public, his agent Kevin Motley informed the Hollywood Reporter of the news.
Cullen’s family also provided a statement, saying that the actor “passed away peacefully, surrounded by his loving family–and held in the hearts of his many friends and countless fans worldwide.” His family asked “that you honor his remarkable legacy by serving your communities and leading others with compassion, integrity and loyalty and always remember ‘be strong enough to be gentle’.”
Cullen has voiced Optimus Prime since the 1984 TV series The Transformers. In a later resurgence of adaptations of the Tranformers franchise, fuelled largely by Michael Bay’s hit live-action 2007 film Transformers (where Cullen also voiced Prime), he continued to voice the Autobot leader in a bevy of video game adaptations.
Cullen has voiced Optimus Prime in the following games:
- Transformers: The Game
- Transformers Autobots
- Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
- Transformers Revenge of the Fallen: Autobots
- Transformers: War for Cybertron
- Transformers: Cybertron Adventures
- Transformers: Dark of the Moon
- Transformers: Fall of Cybertron
- Transformers: Prime – The Game
- Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark
- Transformers: Devastation
- Transformers: Earth Wars
- Fortnite: Battle Royale (2023)
Cullen is also known as the voice of Eeyore in various Winnie the Pooh adaptations, including video games like Piglet’s Big Game and Disney Magical World. In the realm of Hollywood, Cullen has also played iconic roles like the Predator in Predator (1987) and King Kong in King Kong (1976). Most recently, he played Thaedus in Amazon Prime Video’s animated TV series Invincible.
The industry mourns his loss.
