Peter Cullen, Voice of Optimus Prime and Eeyore, Dies at 85 in Los Angeles

Peter Cullen, the actor whose commanding baritone gave voice to Optimus Prime across five decades of Transformers cartoons and films, died at his home in Los Angeles at age 85. His family confirmed the death, and a cause was not immediately available.

Cullen's family said he passed away peacefully, surrounded by family and held in the hearts of friends and fans worldwide, according to NBC Los Angeles. His passing was first reported by TMZ before being confirmed by his representative, as noted by TVLine. The family asked fans to honor his legacy by serving their communities and leading others with compassion, integrity, and loyalty, per the same NBC Los Angeles report.

A Marine Brother's Advice Shaped an Icon

Born in Montreal, Canada, Cullen's booming voice first led him toward radio work before he became the announcer on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour in 1967. He auditioned for the role of a hero truck in the 1980s, and he often told the story of how his brother, Larry, a Marine Corps captain, shaped his approach to the part. Cullen said the advice was shared by Larry before that audition, and he repeated it as recently as a 2023 TFcon fan event, where he described himself as auditioning to be a truck.

That advice — “be strong enough to be gentle” — became something Cullen shared often at fan events, the same accounts note. According to That Eric Alper, Larry told him before the 1984 audition not to act like a loud Hollywood hero, and Cullen based Optimus Prime's calm, measured tone directly on his brother, a decorated Vietnam veteran whose quiet strength upon returning home became the template for the character's leadership.

From Montreal Stages to Hollywood's Biggest Robot

Before radio and animation, Cullen trained as a classical stage actor, graduating in 1963 as part of the very first graduating class of the National Theatre School of Canada in Montreal, according to Radio Times. He worked at Montreal radio station CKGM and on Canadian television before eventually moving to Hollywood, the outlet reports.

Cullen voiced Optimus Prime in the mid-1980s Transformers animated series, which followed the battle between the Autobots and Megatron's Decepticons and was inspired by a popular line of transforming robot toys, per NBC Los Angeles. The connection Cullen forged with young viewers through that role proved so powerful that when Hasbro killed off Optimus Prime in 1986's The Transformers: The Movie to make room for new toy characters, the resulting grief and anger from children was severe enough that Hasbro was forced to resurrect the character in the television series later that same season, according to Legacy Remembers.

A Voice Actor of Surprising Range

Cullen's 1980s work stretched well beyond his signature Autobot. He also voiced the Autobot Ironhide in The Transformers, played the villain Venger on Dungeons & Dragons, and voiced K.A.R.R., the villainous prototype car on NBC's Knight Rider, in that show's 1982 debut episode two years before Transformers launched, Newsweek notes. He also provided the voice effects of the creature in the 1987 film Predator.

In a landmark moment predating his Transformers fame, Cullen became the first performer to voice Nintendo's Mario in Western media, playing the character in the Donkey Kong segments of CBS's Saturday-morning anthology Saturday Supercade, which ran for two seasons starting in September 1983, according to Time Extension. Starting in 1988, he also became the definitive voice of Disney's Eeyore, beginning with The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and continuing through theatrical releases including The Tigger Movie in 2000, Piglet's Big Movie in 2003, and Pooh's Heffalump Movie in 2005, Radio Times reports.

Fans Brought Him Back for the Big Screen

When Michael Bay adapted Transformers for live action in 2007, Cullen reprised the Optimus Prime role, a return that fans and filmmakers had actively pushed for. Producer Don Murphy has said fans and filmmakers lobbied to cast Cullen specifically to preserve an authentic connection to the classic 1980s animated series, according to TheWrap. That persistence kept Cullen in the role across seven live-action films spanning 16 years, through 2023's Transformers: Rise of the Beasts.

Cullen's contributions were formally recognized by the franchise itself in June 2010, when Hasbro inducted him into the inaugural class of the Transformers Hall of Fame at BotCon, alongside original creators Bob Budiansky, Hideaki Yoke, and Kohjin Ohno — making Cullen one of the first four human inductees and the first voice actor so honored. In December 2023, the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences presented him with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2nd Annual Children's & Family Emmy Awards in Los Angeles, an honor presented by his longtime friend and fellow voice actor Frank Welker. Cullen also attended the Optimus Prime hand and footprint ceremony at the TCL Chinese Theatre IMAX in Hollywood in September 2014, a milestone captured in the image accompanying NBC Los Angeles's report.

Cullen's voice acting career spanned more than five decades, a run that took him from Montreal radio booths to some of the most recognizable characters in American animation and film. His family's request — that fans honor him through compassion, integrity, and loyalty toward their own communities — echoes the very words he lent to a truck-shaped hero built, in his own telling, on the quiet strength of a Marine Corps captain named Larry.