Canadian voice actor Peter Cullen, best known as the voice of Optimus Prime in Transformers, died from cardiac arrest at age 85.
According to a death certificate obtained by celebrity news outlet TMZ, Cullen suffered cardiac arrest caused by pulmonary failure. The certificate listed an underlying cause of malignant neoplasm in the lower lobe of the lung, indicating a tumor in the lower section of either his right or left lung.
Cullen will be buried at Forest Lawn cemetery in California on September 9. In a statement shared with TMZ, his family said he passed away peacefully surrounded by his loving family, and that he remains in the hearts of his friends and fans worldwide.
His family asked supporters to honor his legacy by serving their communities and leading others with compassion, integrity, and dedication. They also encouraged fans to remember his personal motto, to be strong enough to be gentle.
Transformers Franchise and Optimus Prime
Cullen became famous after lending his deep, authoritative voice to Optimus Prime, the heroic leader of the Autobots, in the original Transformers animated television series during the 1980s. The toy and media franchise, produced by Hasbro and Sunbow Productions, became a global pop culture phenomenon. Cullen repeated his voice role in the 1986 feature film The Transformers: The Movie.
Two decades later, Cullen returned to voice Optimus Prime in director Michael Bay's 2007 live-action Transformers film, which starred Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox. He subsequently voiced the character in every live-action feature in the series, including Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen in 2009, Transformers: Dark of the Moon in 2011, Transformers: Age of Extinction in 2014, Transformers: The Last Knight in 2017, Bumblebee in 2018, and Transformers: Rise of the Beasts in 2023.
Disney Voice Roles and Lifetime Emmy Award
Beyond his work on Transformers, Cullen was well known as the voice of Eeyore, the gloomy donkey character in the 1988 animated series The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. He continued to voice Eeyore for Disney animated films, television specials, and video games across multiple decades. Earlier in his career, Cullen also provided vocal sound effects for the giant ape in the 1976 monster film King Kong.
In 2023, the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences presented Cullen with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Children's and Family Emmy Awards in recognition of his extraordinary contributions to voice acting. The award celebrated a career that spanned more than four decades across television, film, and animation.
