Peter Cullen, Optimus Prime and Eeyore Voice Actor, Dies at 85

Peter Cullen, the voice actor best known for playing Optimus Prime across four decades of "Transformers" media, has died at 85.

Cullen died Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles, his agent, Kevin Motley, confirmed to multiple outlets. No cause of death was given. In a statement, Cullen's family said he "passed away peacefully, surrounded by his loving family, and held in the hearts of his many friends and countless fans worldwide." The family added, "His family asks 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.'"

From a Dairy Barn in Montreal to Hollywood

Born Peter Claver Cullen on July 28, 1941, in Montreal, Cullen discovered his talent for voices as a child while working on a farm. In a 2014 interview with NPR, he recalled making a loud noise in the family's dairy barn and watching all the cows look up at him. "I walked down the center of that aisle with these cows looking at me and I said, 'This is fantastic,'" Cullen said. "I must have been 8 years old… and I was the king of the cows."

He trained at Canada's National Theatre School before beginning his career in Canadian radio, eventually landing a job as an announcer on the late-1960s variety series "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour," a role that helped launch his decades-long career in comedy and voice work in both Canada and Los Angeles.

More Than Four Decades as Optimus Prime

Cullen first voiced Optimus Prime in the original 1980s "Transformers" animated series, a role he said was directly inspired by his older brother, Larry, who served in Vietnam. "When he came home, I could see a change. He was quieter and he was a man and a superhero to me," Cullen said. "I'd never had an opportunity to do a superhero, and when that came, that voice just came right out of me and I sounded like Optimus."

Cullen went on to reprise the role in Michael Bay's live-action film franchise beginning in 2007, a movie that grossed nearly $710 million worldwide, followed by "Revenge of the Fallen" (2009), "Dark of the Moon" (2011), "Age of Extinction" (2014), "The Last Knight" (2017), "Bumblebee" (2018) and "Rise of the Beasts" (2023), racking up more than $3.5 billion in combined worldwide box office across the franchise. He did not voice the character in 2024's "Transformers One," where the role went to Chris Hemsworth.

A Career Well Beyond Optimus Prime

Cullen's other well-known roles included Eeyore in the "Winnie the Pooh" franchise, beginning with the 1988-91 series "The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh." He called the gloomy donkey his second-favorite role after Optimus Prime, telling NPR, "I enjoyed doing Eeyore because he was simply charming."

Cullen's more than 200 career credits over 60-plus years also included voicing King Kong in the 1976 remake, creating the guttural clicking sounds of the creature in 1987's "Predator," voicing the villainous K.A.R.R. on "Knight Rider," and lending his voice to characters in "Invincible" and "Voltron." Reflecting on advice for young people pursuing their own creative paths, Cullen told NPR, "If you do something you love, that's what I tell kids, if you find something you love to do, do it, stick with it."

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