Peter Cullen Voice of Optimus Prime and Eeyore Dies at 85

Peter Cullen, who gave Optimus Prime the voice that shaped Transformers for four decades, died on August 26 at his home in Los Angeles at the age of 85.

He built the Autobot leader on his brother Larry, a Marine who served in Vietnam, borrowing the calm authority he heard in him.

Cullen originated the role in the 1984 animated series, returned for Michael Bay's 2007 live action film and carried it through five sequels, a spinoff and a run of video games.

He also voiced Eeyore across Winnie the Pooh projects and later called the donkey his favorite character after Optimus.

His credits ran into the hundreds, among them the clicking of the Predator, KARR in Knight Rider and King Kong in the 1976 remake.

Cullen said he never assumed the part would stay his, telling an interviewer that nothing in the business is permanent, and he is survived by four children.

A cartoon voice becomes load bearing when a generation borrows its idea of authority from it, which is what happened to a role Cullen modeled on his brother rather than on a machine. He first spoke as Optimus Prime in 1984 and never treated the part as his to keep. Polygon lists the rest of a career most viewers never traced to one throat: Eeyore, the Predator, Mario in the Donkey Kong cartoon, Voltron, and Thaedus in Invincible. Whoever speaks for Optimus Prime next inherits a Marine's cadence, not a robot's.