Peter Cullen, The Voice Behind Transformers’ Optimus Prime, Has Died

Actor Peter Cullen, best known as the booming voice of Optimus Prime in the Transformers franchise, has died at the age of 85. TMZ reported the news, which was corroborated by trade publications including The Hollywood Reporter. Cullen passed away peacefully in his Los Angeles home on Wednesday, according to his agent. Beginning his career as a live-action performer and an announcer, Cullen's run voicing Optimus Prime started with the original 1980s Transformers animated show. Optimus Prime was famously killed off in the 1986 Transformers film, and backlash led to the Autobots leader being resurrected in the show in 1987. It wasn't until 2007 with Transformers: The Game, a tie-in to the Michael Bay live-action film, that Cullen got to voice Optimus Prime in a video game project. Cullen would reprise the role in several other Transformers games, including the acclaimed Transformers: War for Cybertron and Platinum Games' Transformers: Devastation. Cullen even voiced the character when he debuted in Fortnite. Other than Optimus Prime, Cullen also voiced the chronically pessimistic Eeyore in several Winnie the Pooh films, shows, and video games. One of his more obscure video game cred…