Peter Cullen, voice of Optimus Prime and Eeyore, dies at 85

In his role as the Autobot leader in the Transformers cartoon, Cullen struck a nerve with his authoritative baritone

Peter Cullen, a prolific voice actor who enlivened scores of television series, specials and films, including Optimus Prime in the syndicated 1984 series Transformers and Eeyore in the Winnie the Pooh cartoon franchise, has died. He was 85.

His agent, Kevin Motley, said Cullen died on Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles.

“His family asks that you honour his remarkable legacy by serving your communities and leading others with compassion, integrity, and loyalty and always remember ‘be strong enough to be gentle’,” a family statement said.

Cullen’s career spanned from being an announcer at the groundbreaking late-1960s comedy and variety series The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour and joining comedy sketches for Sonny & Cher to voice acting in The Smurfs and multiple G.I. Joe iterations. But he struck a nerve as Optimus Prime.

While the original cartoon ran just a few years, it left an indelible mark on pop culture, with a toy line, spin-off cartoon series and comics produced over the next two decades. That culminated in the launch of a multibillion-dollar, live-action film franchise in 2007 by Michael Bay.

Before his audition, Cullen knew only that he would be reading for the part of a truck, though giving voice to a vehicle did not seem that crazy. “You’re always auditioning for something in animation that’s a little off of the norm,” Cullen said in 2019.