The world of dubbing and pop culture is mourning. Peter Cullen, the voice actor behind some of the most beloved animated characters of all time, such as Optimus Prime of “Transformers” and the melancholy Igor of “Winnie the Pooh”, has passed away at the age of 85.
His agent, Kevin Motley, confirmed the news to Entertainment Weekly, noting that Cullen died peacefully on Wednesday, August 26, at his home in Los Angeles, surrounded by his family.
The artist’s family shared a statement: “Peter Cullen passed away peacefully, surrounded by his loving family and kept in the hearts of his many friends and countless fans around the world. His family asks that we honor his extraordinary legacy by serving our communities and guiding others with compassion, integrity and loyalty, and that we always remember: ‘Be strong enough to be Gentile.’”
His versatility led him to give life to such diverse characters as King Kong in the 1976 remake and the evil K.A.R.R. ( Knight Automated Roving Robot) in the series Knight Rider in 1982 and 2009.
But one of her most curious contributions to the film was the scary sound of the monster in Depredator (1987), starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Cullen revealed in an interview with Collider in 2023 how he invented that noise: “Years ago, on the Massachusetts beach, with the tide low, there was a crab ferradura mouth-down, and it was hot, and bubbles came out, and their legs moved like this, and all those bubbles broke and made that little click. So I thought, “That’s written in my head.”
However, his most emblematic role was, without a doubt, that of Optimus Prime, the noble leader of the Autobots. Cullen gave his voice to the character in the original animated series of the 1980s, in the franchise of real-life action films directed by Michael Bay, and in numerous video games and derivatives.
Her last appearance was in Transformers: Awakening the Beasts in 2023. Optimus’ death in “The Transformers: The Movie” (1986) caused such indignation among fans that producers decided to bring back both the actor and the character for the direct video film “The Transformers: The Return of Optimus Prime” (1987).
In addition to his work with the Autobots, Cullen also gave life to Ígor, the sad donkey of “Winnie the Pooh,” over decades. In an interview, he confessed that that character was his “favourite, out of Prime,” because it was easier to play and didn’t require so much vocal effort. Even at conventions like TFCon 2018, he delighted the audience playing Ígor’s iconic voice.
Her career also included titles such as “Gremlins” (1984), “The Little Locomotive That Could” (1991), “The Treasure Planet” (2002) and the series “Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” (2019). Cullen leaves his sons Angus, Claire, Pilar and Clay, fruit of his marriage to his wife Brandi.
