Voice of Optimus Prime Peter Cullen Dies

Peter Cullen, who voiced Optimus Prime and Eeyore, has died at 85.

Peter Cullen, the prolific voice actor who gave Optimus Prime his authoritative baritone and Eeyore his melancholic charm, died on Wednesday at his Los Angeles home. He was 85. His agent, Kevin Motley, confirmed the death to multiple outlets including CBS News, The Hollywood Reporter, and ABC News, with no cause of death given. According to ABC News, Cullen had more than 200 acting credits over his decades-long career. His family said in a statement that he "passed away peacefully, surrounded by his loving family."

The death came as a shock to many fans, in part because Cullen had remained active in public life. According to CBS News, Cullen appeared alongside Frank Welker, who voiced Megatron in the Transformers franchise, at Fan Expo Denver in May 2026, just months before his passing. Cullen's continued presence at conventions, where he met fans from multiple generations, made his voice feel like a permanent fixture in popular culture. He was known to get emotional at these appearances, often describing how parents would sometimes get more excited than their children when meeting him.

When Cullen auditioned for the role of a heroic truck in 1984, he drew on his older brother Larry, a U.S. Marine who served in the Vietnam War. "He was my hero, and he certainly was the mainstay behind the character," Cullen told the AP. "I just did an impression of Larry, and he's still alive in my mind today because every time I do Prime, there's my brother Larry." According to The Hollywood Reporter, Cullen told NPR in 2014, "I was told it was a hero, and I was told it was a truck." The original Transformers cartoon left an indelible mark on pop culture, culminating in a multibillion-dollar live-action film franchise launched by Michael Bay in 2007.

Cullen's range extended far beyond Transformers. He voiced Eeyore across multiple Winnie the Pooh projects, including Disney's "The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh" (1988-91), and also voiced the villainous KARR in NBC's "Knight Rider," provided vocal effects for King Kong in the 1976 remake, and created the clicking sounds for the alien creature in "Predator" (1987), which he based on a dying horseshoe crab. According to The Hollywood Reporter, he also voiced Monterey Jack in "Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers," characters in the Voltron series, and Mario in "Saturday Supercade" cartoons. According to ABC News, Cullen called Eeyore his second favorite role, telling NPR, "I enjoyed doing Eeyore because he was simply charming." He received a lifetime achievement award at the Children's & Family Emmy Awards in 2023.

Cullen's Optimus Prime became a cultural touchstone quoted for decades. "I am Optimus Prime, and I send this message to any surviving Autobots taking refuge among the stars: We are here. We are waiting," he intoned in the first live-action film. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the 2007 Transformers film grossed $709.7 million worldwide, with "Revenge of the Fallen" grossing $836.3 million and both "Dark of the Moon" and "Age of Extinction" each reaching $1.1 billion. Cullen told The New York Times in 2008 that Optimus was his favorite character because "it's had such an effect on so many people." His voice appeared in Transformers films through "Rise of the Beasts" in 2023.

Cullen is survived by his four children: Angus, Claire, Pilar, and Clay. His family asked that people honor his legacy "by serving your communities and leading others with compassion, integrity, and loyalty and always remember 'be strong enough to be gentle.'" According to CBS News, Fan Expo released a statement mourning his loss and quoted one of Optimus Prime's most famous lines: "Freedom is the right of all sentient beings." The Hollywood Reporter notes that Cullen was involved with NASA and the Optimus Prime Spinoff Award, presented annually to youngsters studying space, science, technology, and math, extending his impact beyond entertainment and into education.