Peter Cullen, a voice actor who starred as Optimus Prime in Transformers and as Eeyore in Winnie the Pooh, has died at the age of 85.
Cullen died on Wednesday at his Los Angeles home, his agent, Kevin Motley, confirmed to ABC News on Thursday.
No cause of death was given.
“Peter Cullen passed away peacefully, surrounded by his loving family — and held in the hearts of his many friends and countless fans worldwide,” the family said in a statement. “His family asks that you honor his remarkable legacy by serving your communities and leading others with compassion, integrity, and loyalty and always remember ‘be strong enough to be gentle.'”
Cullen had more than 200 acting credits over his decadeslong career. In addition to his roles in several Transformers and Winnie the Pooh movies and shows, he voiced characters in Knight Rider and Chip ‘n Dale Rescue Rangers and provided vocal effects for the 1987 film Predator, according to IMDb.
He was also the announcer on The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour in the 1970s, which gave him his break into acting.
In a 2014 interview with NPR, the Canadian-born Cullen said he first learned he had a talent for voices when he was a child, living and working on a farm.
“One of the greatest memories I have is, I had a full dairy barn where I would collect milk pails with my brother, Larry,” Cullen said. “I found one day that I made a loud noise and all the cows looked up to me. … And I walked down the center of that aisle with these cows looking at me and I said, ‘This is fantastic.’ I must have been 8 years old … and I was the king of the cows.”
Cullen said that his second favorite role after Optimus Prime was voicing an animal, gloomy donkey Eeyore, in Winnie the Pooh.
“I enjoyed doing Eeyore because he was simply charming,” Cullen told NPR. “And I get an awful lot of reactions from, especially, young kids, when I go up and just say [in Eeyore’s voice], ‘Hello. Thanks for noticing me.'”
He continued, “And to see their faces light up, that to me is one of the great joys.”
Cullen’s gift of impersonations grew from animals to humans, which he said in a 2023 interview launched him into a career in comedy, first in Canada and then in Los Angeles.
When asked for his advice for young people, Cullen said to find something that you’re good at, or something that you want to do, and stick with it.
“No matter what it is, it’s like working a muscle, the more you work it, the bigger it gets,” he said. “And, if you do something you love, that’s what I tell kids, if you find something you love to do, do it, stick with it, and you’ll never work a day in your life. You love it, it’s just a holiday.”
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