For more than 40 years, millions of people knew the voice instantly.
Deep. Calm. Powerful.
“My name is Optimus Prime.”
But the man behind that unmistakable voice, Peter Cullen, has died.
Cullen passed away Wednesday, August 26, at his home in Los Angeles. He was 85 years old. His family said he died peacefully surrounded by loved ones. A cause of death has not been publicly disclosed. (AP News)
Yet one of the most touching details of Cullen’s extraordinary career has resurfaced following his death.
Before the 1984 audition that changed his life, Peter asked his older brother Larry for advice.
Larry was a Marine veteran who had served in Vietnam.
His words helped create Optimus Prime.
And more than four decades later, Peter’s family chose those same words to help say goodbye.
Long before Optimus Prime, Peter was a boy from Montreal
Peter Cullen was born on July 28, 1941, in Montreal, Canada.
His career eventually spanned more than six decades and hundreds of credits, but he didn’t begin as the voice of giant robots.
He worked in Canadian television and radio before moving into American entertainment.
Early in his career, he worked on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour and appeared in comedy sketches connected with Sonny & Cher. (ABC News)
Eventually, his remarkable vocal range opened another door.
Voice acting.
And Peter turned out to be extraordinarily good at it.
Then came an audition for a “hero truck”
In 1984, Cullen learned about an audition for a new animated television series called The Transformers.
The character was unusual.
A giant robot who transformed into a truck.
His name was Optimus Prime.
But before Peter went to the audition, he spoke with his older brother Larry Cullen.
Larry wasn’t an actor.
He was a U.S. Marine veteran who had served in Vietnam — and Peter considered him a real-life hero. (Hasbro)
When Peter explained that he was auditioning to play a heroic character, Larry gave him advice.
Don’t play the stereotypical Hollywood hero.
Don’t make him boastful.
Don’t make him loud simply to sound powerful.
Instead, Larry told his brother that a real hero should possess compassion and understanding.
And at the center of his advice was one unforgettable idea:
“Be strong enough to be gentle.” (Hasbro)
Peter never forgot it.
He walked into the audition sounding like his brother
When Peter began reading for Optimus Prime, he didn’t try to invent an enormous cartoon voice.
He thought about Larry.
The calmness.
The authority.
The quiet confidence.
Peter later remembered feeling as though his brother’s words were coming directly out of his mouth as he delivered Optimus Prime’s lines. (Los Angeles Times)
That distinction mattered.
Optimus wasn’t frightening because he shouted.
He sounded like someone you could trust.
The result became one of the most recognizable voices in animation history.
In 1984, a generation heard Optimus Prime for the first time
The Transformers premiered in 1984.
Children met Optimus Prime as the leader of the Autobots, fighting Megatron and the Decepticons.
And Cullen’s performance gave the character something deeper than the typical Saturday-morning cartoon hero.
Optimus sounded paternal.
Measured.
Principled.
He could command an army without sounding like he needed to prove he was in charge.
That was Larry’s influence.
Hasbro itself acknowledged the connection after Cullen’s death, saying Larry’s advice essentially became the character: leadership based on dignity and sacrifice rather than posturing. (Hasbro)
But Peter Cullen was also another voice millions knew
Here’s the part that surprises people who recognize Optimus Prime.
Cullen was also famous for playing Eeyore.
Yes — the melancholy donkey from Winnie the Pooh.
Beginning in the late 1980s, Cullen voiced Eeyore across numerous Disney productions.
The contrast is wonderful.
The same actor capable of commanding the Autobots could become the soft-spoken, perpetually gloomy donkey from the Hundred Acre Wood. (People.com)
For many children, Peter Cullen was therefore part of their childhood twice without them realizing it.
One character was a gigantic robot warrior.
The other was a sad little donkey.
Both voices came from the same man.
And you’ve probably heard him in places you never realized
Cullen’s résumé extends far beyond those two characters.
He voiced KARR, the sinister counterpart to KITT, in Knight Rider.
He worked on G.I. Joe, The Smurfs, Voltron and numerous other animated productions.
And then there’s one particularly bizarre credit.
Predator.
Cullen helped create the famous vocal effects for the alien hunter in the 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger film. (The Washington Post)
The actor behind gentle Eeyore was also partly responsible for one of science-fiction cinema’s most unsettling sounds.
His range was enormous.
Then Hollywood brought Optimus Prime back
More than two decades after the original cartoon debuted, Transformers was being reinvented as a massive live-action movie franchise.
Michael Bay’s first film arrived in 2007.
And producers faced an important question:
Who should voice Optimus Prime?
Fans already knew the answer.
Peter Cullen returned.
Suddenly, adults who had watched Transformers as children heard the voice of their childhood booming through movie theaters.
Cullen continued voicing Optimus across the live-action franchise through Transformers: Rise of the Beasts in 2023. (People.com)
A role that could easily have lasted a few seasons of an ’80s cartoon instead became a relationship lasting more than four decades.
The character eventually became inseparable from the man
Something interesting happened as the years passed.
Fans stopped thinking of Peter merely as the actor who played Optimus Prime.
His own personality became intertwined with what people loved about the character.
Cullen was frequently described as warm, humble and deeply appreciative of the people who had followed his career.
At conventions, fans sometimes became emotional simply hearing him speak.
For them, that voice wasn’t merely dialogue from an animated series.
It represented childhood.
Saturday mornings.
Toys spread across the living-room floor.
A hero telling them that strength didn’t require cruelty.
In 2023, Cullen received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. (Page Six)
The honor recognized something fans had understood for decades.
Peter Cullen hadn’t simply voiced a famous character.
He had helped define one.
Then came the news fans didn’t want to hear
Cullen died at his Los Angeles home on Wednesday, August 26, 2026.
He was surrounded by his family.
His death immediately triggered tributes from across entertainment and the enormous Transformers fan community. (AP News)
Hasbro remembered a career that stretched across six decades and said Cullen had helped generations understand ideas such as courage, sacrifice and leadership. (Hasbro)
But Cullen’s family made an unusual request.
Rather than simply asking fans to remember his movies and television work, they asked people to honor him through their own actions.
Serve their communities.
Lead with compassion.
Show integrity and loyalty.
And then came the final phrase:
“Be strong enough to be gentle.” (The Washington Post)
The same lesson that had helped begin his greatest role had become part of his family’s farewell.
His brother’s advice outlived them both
Larry Cullen could never have known what those words would become.
He was simply giving his younger brother some advice before an audition.
But Peter carried the lesson into the recording studio.
He built Optimus Prime around it.
Millions of children heard the result.
Those children grew up.
Many introduced Optimus Prime to their own children.
And more than 40 years after Peter first stepped behind a microphone as the Autobot leader, his family returned to the philosophy that had started everything.
One voice. More than 40 years of memories.
Peter Cullen’s face might not have been immediately recognizable to everyone.
But let him speak two or three words in that unmistakable baritone and millions knew exactly who he was.
To some, he was Eeyore.
To others, he was part of Knight Rider, Predator or countless cartoons.
But to generations of Transformers fans, he will always be Optimus Prime.
And the most beautiful part of that legacy may be that the voice wasn’t created by trying to sound powerful.
It came from Peter remembering the man he considered his own hero.
His older brother.
A Marine veteran who taught him that genuine strength could sound calm, compassionate and kind.
Peter Cullen carried that lesson for the rest of his life.
Now his family has passed it on to everyone who grew up listening to him:
Be strong enough to be gentle. (Hasbro)
If you’re interested in more stories about incredible lives and their lasting impact, check out how Dolly Parton went from 1.2 million to 46.3 million streams in just two days, or the sweet story of Dolly Parton meeting Carl Dean on her first day in Nashville. You might also find it fascinating that Miley Cyrus released “Wrecking Ball” on the same date Dolly Parton later passed away.
