Canadian voice actor Peter Cullen, best known as the English voice of Optimus Prime in the Transformers franchise, has died at the age of 85.
Cullen passed away on Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles, surrounded by his family. His agent, Kevin Motley, confirmed his death to the US entertainment publication The Hollywood Reporter on Thursday.
In a separate statement, Cullen's family confirmed that the actor died at home in the company of loved ones. The family statement did not state the cause of death.
Born in Montreal, Canada, Cullen built a long career as a voice actor across television, film and video games. Montreal is the largest city in the province of Quebec.
He was the first actor to lend his voice in English to Optimus Prime, the leader of the heroic Autobots, in the original animated television series that ran from 1984 to 1987. Transformers originated as a media franchise featuring alien robots capable of transforming into vehicles and machinery, where the Autobots battle the evil Decepticons.
Fan backlash led to 1987 return
Optimus Prime became Cullen's most famous character, but the role included a pivotal moment in animated movie history. In the 1986 animated feature film Transformers: The Movie, Optimus Prime was killed following a duel with the titanic Decepticon leader Megatron.
The death of Optimus Prime caused such a major stir among fans of the franchise that producers decided to bring both Cullen and the character back for the 1987 film Transformers: The Return of Optimus Prime.
Two decades later, in 2007, director Michael Bay revived the franchise for the big screen with a series of live-action feature films. Bay brought Cullen back to voice the Autobot leader once again, introducing his vocal performance to a new generation of moviegoers across multiple feature films and video games.
Roles in Winnie the Pooh and Knight Rider
While Optimus Prime was the character that brought him international fame, Cullen's vocal work extended to several other classic television projects during his career.
He provided the voice of Eeyore, the languid stuffed donkey in Disney's animated Winnie the Pooh productions, based on the children's books by A.A. Milne. Cullen also voiced KARR, the evil automated prototype vehicle, in the popular 1980s American action television series Knight Rider.
