July 28, 1941 – August 26-2026
I stopped doing celebrity deaths a long time ago. When the updates with Jake & Leon were article links I would acknowledge celebrity passings there. I did in short article posts as well. At some point there were too many passings of those who brought cultural icons to life that I just stopped doing it except for special occasions. This month alone the Grim Reaper came for Hayden Panettiere and Daveigh Chase (the voice actress for Lilo in the Lilo & Stitch franchise) died way too young. This week has been one hit after another. Dolly Parton one day and Tim Curry the next. I was familiar with Parton’s music but I wasn’t a huge Parton fan. I did like to see her perform and that was it. Tim Curry wasn’t really part of my childhood because I didn’t really start seeing him until the 1990s, as his big breakout movie still isn’t to my tastes and his VO work didn’t kick off until I was out of school.
Then today, the Reaper found a target that hits close to home: Optimus Prime.
Yeah, we’re all going to remember that role the most, but Peter Cullen, who voiced a lot more than the Autobot leader even in the 1980s, will always be known for Optimus Prime, a connection to the character that matches Kevin Conroy’s Batman. The voice came from his brother Larry, but we always tied it to John Wayne. That was how Neil Kaplan was instructed to voice his Optimus Prime. Just recently there was a discussion about letting Cullen move on from the role despite his many returns in other continuities. As a Transformer fan from childhood this hits hard, but I prefer to celebrate a legacy than mourn a loss.
Credit where it’s due. Writers gave Optimus the words, but Cullen gave them the voice. He sounded wise but also could hang with the others on downtime. Everyone respected him, and when Cullen’s voicebox made him speak you believed what Optimus was saying. Kids cried when he was killed in The Transformers: The Movie because the character mattered so much to them. Hot Rod never really being allowed to push forward as Rodimus Prime due to his inexperience didn’t help matters, so Optimus would come back twice. “Dark Awakening” was an attempt to better pass the torch, but “The Return Of Optimus Prime” fully restored him at a time when sparks weren’t part of Transformer lore. Japan didn’t have as many hangups killing mentors, but they didn’t have Peter Cullen’s voice in him. Cullen voiced Ironhide as well as a couple of other recurring Autobots and Decepticons, but it was Optimus Prime that he’ll be most remembered for due to his having the most appearances, some good character development, and the kids looking to him as a “father figure”.
Fun fact: one guy saw Optimus as more of a father than his own biological father and legally changed his name to Optimus Prime. And before you start to call him anything, he served in Iraq and came home to be a firefighter, two of the most dangerous jobs out there. As far as I’m concerned he can call himself Optimus Prime, Pretty Mary Sunshine, or Ned Neddleson. He’s more awesome than most of us, and if Optimus inspired all that–go for it, man!
Cullen would return to the role in the 2000s, voicing him in the live-action movies (one of Bay’s smartest moves was bringing him back for the nostalgia–too bad he screwed up everything else he possibly could), various video games, and the “Aligned Continuity” shows: Prime, Robots In Disguise, and Rescue Bots. (Meaning he’s gone up against Tim Curry, who was a human villain in that show, one of the few I actually enjoy.) The sequel, Rescue Bots Academy, ditched all the previous voice actors as they changed studios. He was also Optimus in various video games. That means for more than one generation Larry Cullen as vocally interpreted by Peter IS Optimus Prime. That’s not his only big claim, though.
Cullen was also the voice of Eeyore (this was the best clip I could find that assured me it was him), taking over in the 1980s. According to Behind The Voice Actor, Cullen has the most appearances in the role at 26. News reports would add his name to Optimus’, but with Eeyore it’s more the character. While others have played Optimus since, and even at the time in book & records and audio dramas, Cullen’s Optimus was more him as he set the standard for the Optimus Primes to follow. Optimus and Eeyore were so important that news sources I would have been surprised to find an obituary for Mel Blanc (although I’m sure they did) noted Cullen’s passing with Optimus and Eeyore.
One doesn’t feed his family on two roles, though. Cullen has a pretty long list of characters that are too long to list here. IMDB has that list if you want, but here are the ones I consider highlights:
Cullen was (unless I’m missing some advertisement or book & record or something) the first ever voice of Nintendo’s iconic Mario Mario. In addition to voices for Sunbow and Marvel Productions, Cullen also did work for Hanna-Barbera and Ruby-Spears, which led to his voicing the “Jumpman” of the original Donkey Kong video game as part of the Saturday Supercade among other guest voices.
Cullen could take on the villain roles, too. Venger in Dungeons & Dragons, various goons and lead baddies, Murky Dismal from Rainbow Brite–all came off as menacing as they should (or shouldn’t in the comedic villain roles) under Cullen’s vocals. He voiced King Kong in the 1970s remake and the Predator in the first movie. He even voiced Tank in Transformers’ opposition, Challenge Of The GoBots. Meaning he both fought an ape and played an ape, and fought Frank Welker as both Megatron and Scooter. He even played Spence from Filmation’s Ghostbusters and had a guest appearance as a comic book villain come to life in an episode of The Real Ghostbusters. Dude seriously got around.
He also was part of the very small voice crew for World Events Productions along with fellow Transformers alum Michael Bell, voicing the Commander in charge of the exploration vessel for the Voltron vehicle team as well as Coran from the Lion force, and it was one of many narration roles, like doing Toonami for Cartoon Network. Mizor, King Of War, from the underrated Vitor: Starfire Champion, was also good. He had a great villain voice that he used many times, but his Optimus voice he saved for Optimus. At best a character had the parts of his voice that was Peter’s. He was also KARR, the opposite number of KITT, in Knight Rider, so he also fought Mr. Feeny from the Boy Meets World franchise. Voice work is a weird animal. Check through Saturday Night Showcases of cartoons from the 1980s and he might pop up.
Larry told Peter to be strong enough to be gentle. I don’t know him personally but his hero characters were that, while his villains learned what happens when you don’t live up to that. Peter Cullen was one of the greats and his loss hits hard. I just hope he’s the last one this week because this is getting obnoxious. Rest in peace, Peter. To borrow from a namesake on a different show, your spark joined the greatest of the world and you made a positive influence in the lives of many kids who learned how to be a man…from a robot.
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