Peter Cullen, the voice actor behind Autobots leader Optimus Prime in “Transformers” and the mopey Eeyore in several “Winnie-the-Pooh” projects, died Wednesday, his agent Kevin Motley confirmed. Cullen died Aug. 26 at his home in Los Angeles, “surrounded by his loving family — and held in the hearts of his many friends and countless fans worldwide,” his family said in a statement. Cullen was a prolific voice actor whose credits numbered in the hundreds.
His most distinctive role was as Optimus Prime across several “Transformers” shows, films and video games. He originated the Autobots leader’s deep, authoritative voice in the 1980s animated series “The Transformers,” which chronicled the war between the Autobots and Decepticons and spawned a subsequent feature film. He returned to the role after roughly two decades away for Michael Bay’s 2007 live-action “Transformers” movie adaptation, which spawned a new generation of content across five sequels, a “Bumblebee” spinoff, multiple animated shows and video games.
His work in the 2010 series “Transformers: Prime” earned him a Daytime Emmy nomination. Cullen said the voice of Optimus Prime was inspired by his brother Larry, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who he saw as his personal hero following Larry’s service in Vietnam.
I guess people somehow picked up on that. There’s a calmness to Optimus Prime, and yet a gentility and strength and honor and dignity, that are synonymous with the Marines.” But despite his apparent marriage to the role across several “Transformers” projects, he said in a 2014 Reading Eagle interview that he never assumed his job would be permanent. He described during a Transformers convention appearance that taking on the role following years as Optimus was a “relief,” and he has since described Eeyore as his favorite character to play after the “Transformers” hero.
Thanks for noticing me,‘” he told NPR in 2014. Most recently, he voiced the Viltrumite turncoat Thaedus in the 2021 Prime Video animated series “Invincible.” Cullen was born in Montreal on July 28, 1941, one of four children to Americans Henry and Muriel Cullen. He graduated from the National Theatre School of Canada in 1963, and he later worked at Toronto’s Crest Theatre as part of its repertory company.
Cullen spent some of his childhood working on a farm, telling NPR in 2014 his earliest vocal lessons came from imitating the chickens, cows and dogs that littered the farmland. So I did something like, “And now that I have your attention!” And they all looked up. And I walked down the center of that aisle with these cows looking at me and I said, ‘This is fantastic.’ I must have been 8 years old … and I was the king of the cows.” Cullen is survived by his four children, Angus, Claire, Pilar and Clay.
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