{"id":376150,"date":"2026-08-27T08:24:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T15:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/?p=376150"},"modified":"2026-08-27T08:24:02","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T15:24:02","slug":"peter-cullen-has-died-at-85-the-voice-of-optimus-prime","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/peter-cullen-has-died-at-85-the-voice-of-optimus-prime\/","title":{"rendered":"Peter Cullen has died at 85: the voice of Optimus Prime"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Peter Cullen, the Canadian <a href=\"https:\/\/en.softonic.com\/articles\/one-of-the-most-iconic-voices-in-video-games-and-one-of-the-most-prestigious-british-actors-of-his-generation-has-passed-away\" rel=\"noopener\">voice actor behind a long list of familiar characters<\/a> and, for a lot of people, the definitive Optimus Prime, died on <strong>August 26, 2026<\/strong>. He was 85, his family said.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">His family said he passed away <strong>peacefully that day<\/strong> at his Los Angeles home, surrounded by loved ones. No cause of death was publicly reported.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Anyone who grew up with <em><a href=\"https:\/\/transformers.en.softonic.com\/\" rel=\"noopener\">Transformers<\/a><\/em> heard Cullen define Optimus Prime, first in the original animated series in the <strong>1980s<\/strong> and later in the live-action films. He shaped the role around advice from his brother Larry, a retired U.S. Marine Corps captain, who told him a real hero should be \u201cstrong enough to be gentle.\u201d That range showed up all over his career: Eeyore in Disney\u2019s 1988 <em><a href=\"https:\/\/winnie-the-pooh-black-honey.en.softonic.com\/\" rel=\"noopener\">Winnie the Pooh<\/a><\/em>, Monterey Jack in <em>Chip \u2019n Dale: Rescue Rangers<\/em>, K.A.R.R. in <em>Knight Rider<\/em>, the creature vocalizations in <em>Predator<\/em>, and Thaedus in <em>Invincible<\/em>. In 2023, that work was recognized with a Children\u2019s and Family Emmy Lifetime Achievement Award.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If animation and gaming are where you know Peter Cullen best, this is the kind of career worth going back through. You can still hear him all across those shows and films. His family has asked people to honor him by serving their communities and leading with <strong>compassion, integrity, and loyalty<\/strong>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Peter Cullen, the Canadian voice actor behind a long list of familiar characters and, for a lot of people, the definitive Optimus Prime, died on August 26, 2026. He was 85, his family said. His family said he passed away peacefully that day at his Los Angeles home, surrounded by loved ones. No cause of &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/peter-cullen-has-died-at-85-the-voice-of-optimus-prime\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Peter Cullen has died at 85: the voice of Optimus Prime&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9325,"featured_media":376149,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wpcf-pageviews":0},"categories":[1015],"tags":[],"usertag":[],"vertical":[],"content-category":[],"class_list":["post-376150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9325"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=376150"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376150\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":376151,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376150\/revisions\/376151"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/376149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=376150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=376150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=376150"},{"taxonomy":"usertag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/usertag?post=376150"},{"taxonomy":"vertical","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vertical?post=376150"},{"taxonomy":"content-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content-category?post=376150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}