38
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Peter Cullen dead: 'Transformers' Optimus Prime voice was 85
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- Title
- Peter Cullen, Voice of Optimus Prime in 'Transformers,' Dies at 85
- Authors
- Etan Vlessing
- Published
- Aug 27 2026
- Word count
- 1183 words
Peter Cullen explains how he created the voice for Optimus Prime
To play Optimus Prime, Cullen said he channeled the spirit of his older brother, Larry, a decorated U.S. Marine who served in Vietnam from 1965-68.
“When he came home, I could see a change. He was quieter and he was a man and a superhero to me,” he said in 2006. “I watched him and listened to him. I’d never had an opportunity to do a superhero, and when that came, [that voice] just came right out of me, and I sounded like Optimus.”
Enough celebrity deaths this week. Looking at you Clint!
Peter Cullen explains how he created the voice for the Predator
To play the Predator, Cullen describes going to an audition after doing doing 11 reels of King Kong sounds. Coughing up blood and his voice tired, Cullen said the studio refused to tell him what the Predator looked like. When they finally relented, they showed him the end of the film when the Predator takes his mask off.
"When they did that I saw this ugly, ugly face and these tentacles going like this mimics the mandibles." said Cullen.
"It reminded me of an upside down horseshoe crab dying in the sun on a beach when I was a kid. It was nasty. But from that horseshoe crab was coming all these crackling sounds. Bubbles that were bursting.”
I'm trying to remember my parents talking around the dinner table about celebrity deaths when they were in their 40s.
I feel like there was mention and while I didn't know what was happening in their heads, I don't remember it phasing them quite like it has our culture.
I was about to bid the voice of Optimus Primal goodbye, but apparently that wasn't our boy Cullen.
I'm sure there have been similar reactions to celebrity deaths in the past (john lennon, Princess Diana, etc.), especially if not by natural causes, though it definitely feels more widespread now.
I'm an elder millennial, and I don't really remember my parents talking about celebrity deaths much beyond dinner table small talk as well. A few things come to mind. TV and movies have expanded so far beyond what my parents grew up with, both in volume and in local->national->global reach. Combined with the explosion in budgets and marketing, they're just more present in people's lives from a young age now. We also saw the normalization of 24-hour newscycles needing to ~beat a dead horse~ fill the time, plus cable tv channels like E! Entertainment Television filling the whole day specifically with celebrity gossip. Millenials in particular seem to be very nostalgic, though it may just be my bubble, so seeing celebrities they "grew up with" die hits them hard. And of course we have The Internet - an insane multiplier of every thought and hot take across the globe with platforms that incentivize more extreme and performative expressions and parasocial relationships, which simultaneously gives the appearance of a stronger reaction and very likely stirs actually stronger reaction in a feedback loop.
Personally, to feel more than a bit of sadness it takes a celebrity who personally made the world a meaningfully better place, far beyond their characters or filmography/discography. Truly great role models and forces for good, like Fred Rogers and Dolly Parton. And even then, personally, they get a teary-eyed remembrance. I can't understand the people mourning as if the celebrity was their parent or sibling or life-long best friend.
All good points. I'd also as that for our parents, childhood and all that came with it had a pretty defined end date.
You made the hard tight turn into adulthood after high school, and between those two, being a teenager came with its own set of unique interests. Starting with us (in also an elder millennial), I've had the option to keep playing Mario, watching ninja turtles and all else since I grew up. My favorite properties matured with me.
It's weird. I don't think that the option for a perpetual adolescence is healthy.
...garry chalk and david kaye still post in-character holiday greetings each year, bless them...
The Death of Optimus Prime