Transformers Actors Reflect on Death of Optimus Prime actor Peter Cullen: "A Prodigious Talent"

Peter Cullen is now one with the Matrix.

In Transformers: The Movie, the leader of the Autobots, Optimus Prime, gets fatally damaged in a battle with Megatron, leader of the evil Decepticons. As the beloved, noble commander fades away, he assures his soldiers with this sentiment:

“Autobots, do not grieve. Soon, I shall be one with the Matrix.”

It was touching, memorable, and slightly traumatizing to watch Optimus Prime perish as his bright red and blue colors fade from his metal body. Now, 40 years later, the man who voiced Optimus Prime has joined the Autobot leader.

Image: Hasbro

News broke on Thursday, Aug. 27 that the 85-year-old voice actor had passed away a day earlier. Over his more than 60-year-long career, Cullen voiced hundreds of characters, including Winnie the Pooh’s pal Eeyore and Monterey Jack from Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers. He also provided the terrifying sounds of the Predator in the original 1987 sci-fi thriller with Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Undoubtedly, though, the role he will be most remembered for is Optimus Prime. Cullen began voicing the character in 1984 on the original cartoon series, and over the next 40-plus years, he returned to the character in a variety of Transformers iterations including Michael Bay’s big-screen Transformers films.

As fans are grieving the loss, so are Cullen's fellow voice actors. Polygon reached out to several who worked with him on various Transformers projects, and we've collected their tributes to the man behind Optimus Prime below.

Neil Ross

Bonecrusher, Crosshairs, Fracas, Hook, Slag, etc. (Transformers)

Image: Hasbro

Neil Ross, like Cullen, was a cast member on the original 1980s Transformers series, voicing a wide array of both Autobots and Decepticons. Remembering his friend of more than 40 years, Ross says:

“Peter Cullen was a lovely guy and a prodigious talent. I first met him working on the Pac-Man show for Hanna-Barbera in the early ‘80s and we went on to work together on Transformers, G.I. Joe, and many other shows over the years. We bonded over the fact that we both spent our formative years in Quebec, Canada. He was a true gentleman and one of those guys that I always looked forward to working with. He had such a great laugh — I’ll miss hearing it. He was a great talent, but always remained humble. I will miss him.”

David Kaye

Megatron (Beast Wars: Transformers, Transformers: Armada**) and Optimus Prime (Transformers: Animated)**

Image: Hasbro

“I remember when I was cast as Optimus Prime in Transformers: Animated (2007),” begins David Kaye, who has played various iterations of both Megatron and Optimus Prime since the 1990s. “At first I was like, 'What? Optimus? I thought I was going to be Megatron.' Then I thought, ‘Is Peter going to hate me?’”

Fortunately, there was no need to worry.

“The next time I saw him, I apologized and he was so gracious, he said, ‘No, don’t even think about it.’”

Eventually, on a later Transformers project, Kaye got to work with Cullen. Of that experience, Kaye says:

“Working with him on Transformers: Prime, when I came in as one of the Insecticons, with Frank Welker as Megatron and Peter Cullen as Optimus, it was such a cool thing for me to be able to be in a project where the three of us were there. It meant the world, being in the same room as Peter. He had a presence — he filled the room. Even in his later years, he was a presence. To me, he was like a god of voiceover.”

Jess Harnell

Ironhide (Transformers live-action films)

Image: Hasbro/Paramount

“If Transformers are cars that turn into robots, Peter held the keys and owned the garage. Rest in Prime, my friend,” says Jess Harnell, who provided the voice for Ironhide in Michael Bay’s live action Transformers films.

Garry Chalk

Optimus Primal (Beast Wars: Transformers) and Optimus Prime (Transformers: Armada)

Image: Hasbro

“I found out about Peter this morning,” says Garry Chalk, who followed in Cullen’s footsteps by playing Optimus Prime descendant Optimus Primal in Beast Wars: Transformers. Chalk later would voice Prime himself in 2002’s Transformers: Armada and its various sequels. “It came as quite a shock because I thought, like his iconic characters, he’d live forever.”

Chalk continues:

“I always found him to be a very personable human being and very genuinely interested in the fans. I found him to be a very quiet and humble man, which is something given the characters that he played. I met him once and he greeted me with good humor. We had some fun during a panel doing an ‘Optimus Off.' I don’t think I can ever live up to his massive presence. He was so good at what he did. Rest in peace, Peter, you were an icon — you were loved by everyone and it’s a sad day for the Transformers community for sure.”