Peter Cullen, commanding voice actor behind both Transformers’ Optimus Prime and Winnie-the-Pooh’s Eeyore

Telegraph ObituariesMon, September 7, 2026 at 3:29 PM UTC

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Cullen carrying a toy version of his most famous character in 2007, the year that Transformers became one of the biggest film franchises in the world - E. Charbonneau

Peter Cullen, who has died aged 85, was a prolific Canadian voice actor best known for playing Optimus Prime, leader of the heroic Autobots in the Transformers franchise. He imbued the character with a stentorian gravitas and sense of moral authority and thereby helped to elevate the series above its childish premise; he also voiced the chronically miserable Eeyore in various adaptations of Winnie-the-Pooh stories.

Cullen began playing Optimus Prime in The Transformers, the animated series spun off from the popular line of children’s toys. The franchise’s conceit was that two warring factions of alien robots – Autobots and villainous Decepticons – were present on Earth, in disguise as vehicles used by humans. The Autobots were led by the broad-chested Optimus Prime, sometimes disguised as a red and blue cargo truck, and burdened with the responsibility of power by the talismanic “Matrix of Leadership” embedded in his torso.

In the original animated series, Cullen’s voice acting provided a ballast of maturity amid the primary-coloured chaos. Later, when the franchise was turned into a series of explosion-heavy and juvenile films directed by Michael Bay, Cullen’s voice, grittier with age, brought a smidgen of dignity to proceedings.

Peter Claver Cullen was born in Montreal on July 28 1941. His parents, both Americans, were Henry Cullen, an executive at the International Paper Sales Company, and Muriel McCann, who had attended the American Academy of the Dramatic Arts but never pursued her dream of becoming a full-time actor.

Yet a love of vocal performance ran in the family. Cullen’s aunt and uncle had a radio show in New York – originated by Cullen’s grandfather, one of early radio’s pioneers – and a young Peter was periodically invited to speak into the microphone when visiting their studio. “I’d be scared to death of it; I was shaking… but I was in awe,” he recalled.

It was while working on a farm that Cullen first realised that he could manipulate his voice with exceptional dexterity: “I could imitate the cows, the calves, the chickens, the different dogs.”

He also discovered his talent for performing with authority – the quality he would be most associated with – when he caught the notice of a dairy barn full of cattle after making a loud noise. He then announced, without thinking: “Now that I have your attention!”

“I walked down the centre of that aisle with these cows looking at me and I said: ‘This is fantastic.’ I must have been eight years old... and I was the king of the cows.”

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Signing autographs at a premiere of Transformers: Age of Extinction in 2014: although many of the franchise’s characters were voiced by multiple actors, Cullen’s voice was considered synonymous with Optimus Prime - Larry Busacca

Cullen attended the National Theater School of Canada after a successful audition piece that involved, curiously, no speaking at all (he played a man “walking a big dog that got interested in a little dog”). He then spent a few years on stage before moving to Hollywood. There, he became the announcer on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (1967-69) and The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour (1971-74), and began a prolific run of voice-acting work.

When Cullen went to audition for the role of Optimus Prime in The Transformers in 1984, he was living with his brother, Larry, a distinguished marine corps officer who had served in Vietnam. After Larry advised him to play Prime as “strong enough to be gentle”, Peter realised that his noble older sibling – “13 months older and six inches taller… my hero” – would be the ideal model for the part.

A CGI Optimus Prime in Transformers (2007); Peter Cullen based his performance on his brother, Larry, a distinguished veteran - DreamWorks LLC/Paramount

Cullen won the role with a display of virtuous solemnity, enough to make the performances of his co-stars seem hysterical and immature. He went on to voice Prime in four series of the show, plus myriad other spin-offs, reboots, video games and Michael Bay’s live-action adaptations. Although other characters in the franchise would be played by a bewildering variety of actors, Cullen’s voice was linked inextricably to Prime.

His character was ostensibly killed off in the 1986 animated film – “there go the car payments,” he moaned to a co-star – but outrage among diehard fans resulted in his swift resurrection.

The heroic Transformer was Cullen’s most indelible character, but his voice cropped up in much else during the 1980s and 1990s. He was the nefarious KARR, counterpart to KITT, in Knight Rider (1982), and a dour Eeyore in The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1988) and its subsequent films and series. He was also the first Western actor to voice Nintendo’s immensely popular Mario character, facing off against Donkey Kong on Saturday Spectacle (1983-84).

Cullen also provided evocative noises for such non-human characters as the roaring King Kong in John Guillermin’s 1976 remake, and the croaking, click-clacking alien who hunts Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1987 action romp Predator. A childhood spent imitating farm animals had ultimately paid off.

Cullen was married to Carol Ann Balmer, a former Miss Canada, but the couple were divorced in 1982. Larry Cullen, the inspiration behind Optimus Prime, died in 2011.

He is survived by two children.

Peter Cullen, born July 28 1941, died August 26 2026

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”