Peter Cullen, the voice of Optimus Prime and Eeyore, dies aged 85

Peter Cullen, the Canadian voice actor who gave Optimus Prime his unmistakable baritone and voiced Eeyore in Disney's Winnie the Pooh franchise, has died at the age of 85.

He died on Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles, according to a statement reported by BBC News. "Peter Cullen passed away peacefully, surrounded by his loving family — and held in the hearts of his many friends and countless fans worldwide," it read. "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'."

How Peter Cullen found Optimus Prime

That last line is not a throwaway. It is where the character came from.

Cullen first voiced the heroic Autobot leader for the Transformers TV series in 1984, and the advice that shaped the performance came from his older brother, a decorated US Marine and Vietnam War veteran. He told Cullen to play Optimus Prime as "a real hero, don't be a Hollywood hero".

"He said, 'Don't go yelling and screaming. He's strong enough to be gentle,'" Cullen recalled. "And that resonated with me, and I could hear his voice all the way to the audition. When he drops down, when he gets serious, is where I found Optimus Prime."

Cullen gave his brother a cut of the wages he received for playing the character.

Four decades, and a lot more than one robot

He returned to Optimus Prime for seven Hollywood films between 2007 and 2023, along with assorted spin-offs, making him one of the very few actors to carry a single role across four decades of a franchise.

The range beyond it was wider than most people realise. He voiced the permanently gloomy donkey Eeyore in The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh from the late 1980s, plus numerous related shows, films and games. He was KARR, the evil counterpart to KITT in Knight Rider. He supplied the clicking vocalisations of The Predator in Arnold Schwarzenegger's 1987 film, and the roars of King Kong in 1976.

Cullen started out on Canadian TV and radio and was a regular on programmes like The Sonny & Cher Show before deciding to concentrate on voice work. His performance as Optimus Prime earned him a Daytime Emmy nomination for outstanding performer in an animated programme in 2011, and he received a lifetime achievement award at the Children's & Family Emmy Awards in 2023.

His death follows a run of losses in film and television this month, including Rocky Horror star Tim Curry and actress Phyllida Law.

It is a strange kind of fame. Millions of people who could not pick Peter Cullen out of a line-up would know his voice inside four syllables, and three generations grew up with it: the children who watched the 1984 cartoon, their kids who queued for the Hollywood films from 2007, and the ones playing the games and spin-offs now. Most voice actors never land one role like that. Cullen landed Optimus Prime, Eeyore and The Predator.