RIP Peter Cullen

 

Peter Cullen, a man many Transformers fans came to love as the voice of Optimus Prime, the Autobots’ fearless leader, has died at the age of 85. The news of Cullen’s passing was broken by TMZ. According to the publication, Cullen died on August 26. His cause of death is currently unknown, but his family provided a statement about the legendary voice actor. Born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada on July 28, 1941, some of his additional voicing was for Optimus Prime in Hasbro’s original animated series and Michael Bay’s live-action films, Cullen provided his talents to many other characters and series. Key among them is Eeyore in ‘Winnie the Pooh’, KARR in ‘Knight Rider’, and Monterey “Jack in Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers”. He even voiced Mario in Nintendo’s Donkey Kong series in the 1980s. Cullen provided additional English voices in the first season (1984) of the animated Euro-western TV series ‘Lucky Luke’.