The Canadian-American voice actor voiced Optimus Prime in the Transformers franchise for over 40 years.

Updated on: Aug 27, 2026, 22:02:28 IST

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Within 48 hours of the deaths of Dolly Parton and Tim Curry, another Hollywood icon has left us. Peter Cullen, the Canadian-American voice actor who was most famous for voicing the lead Transformer, Optimus Prime, has died. He was 85.

Statement from the family

The actor's death was confirmed by his agent, Kevin Motley, to The Hollywood Reporter. He died at his home in Los Angeles. In a statement, his family said, “Peter Cullen passed away peacefully, surrounded by his loving family – and held in the hearts of his many friends and countless fans worldwide. His family asks that you honor his remarkable legacy by serving your communities and leading others with compassion, integrity, and loyalty and always remember 'be strong enough to be gentle.”

The cause of death hasn’t been reported.

About his career

Deep Dive

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The actor graduated from the National Theatre School of Canada in 1963. He then worked as an announcer on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (1967–1968). He was best known for voicing Optimus Prime, starting in the 1984 animated series. He then reprised the role in live-action Hollywood films from 2007 to 2023.

He also voiced in Invincible, Voltron and as Eeyore in Winnie the Pooh features.

In an interview with Collider in 2023, he had shared his equation with directors on a project which would require his voice acting. “Actually, it would just be my interpretation of what was written down. You would see a sketch of the character, what it looked like, and then an example of some of its dialogue, and I would always create it according to how it was built. If it had a thin neck, I would make it more trumpet or more strangled; if it was larger, more air, deeper, and then I looked at its comedy traits and how funny is it gonna be? And how is he funny? Is he funny verbally, or is he funny the way he says it, or some obstruction, you know, maybe his lips are twisted or something, whatever? So that's how most of them came to be, would be the immediate interpretation of seeing the picture,” he said.

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