Abstract:
Canadian dubbing master Peter Cullen, who voiced Optimus Prime in "Transformers" and was also a voice actor in the early "Super Mario" animated version, passed away at his home in Los Angeles on August 26, 2026 at the age of 85. According to reports, his family was by his side when he passed away.
Cullen's acting career spanned a full sixty years. He entered the industry as a television announcer in 1967 and has since appeared in television series, movies, and video games. In 2011, he was nominated for an Emmy Award; in 2023, the Emmy Award awarded him a Lifetime Achievement Award.
For gamers, Cullen’s most well-known character is Optimus Prime. From 2007 to 2016, he voiced the character in 12 different "Transformers" games, spanning multiple generations of console platforms, with his last game being "Transformers: War for Earth."
His last appearance in the gaming field was to appear again as the voice of Optimus Prime in "Fortnite" in 2023. In addition, he also served as the narrator in "Crystal Crisis" in 2019, and twice voiced Eeyore in Winnie the Pooh in "Disney's Magical World 2" and the weird "Piggy's Big Game" in 2016. In terms of TV series, he joined the "Watchmen" series in 2023 as the voice of Thaedus, a role that will continue until 2026 in the series. His voice has also appeared in trailers, commercials, and broadcasts of Cartoon Network's "Toonami" animation section.
Cullen also had a little-known "regret" in his voice acting career: the canceled project "Warcraft: Lords of Clans" in the history of the "Warcraft" series. In the mid-1990s, Blizzard Entertainment developed this adventure game set after "Warcraft 2" and invited Cullen to participate in the voice acting. Blizzard was working with Animation Magic, which had produced the CD-I "Zelda" game, but the project was eventually canceled in 1998, and the sound material Cullen recorded for the game was never officially released to the public.
Cullen's death is another heavy loss in the classic game and film and television dubbing industry this month. Previously, actor Hayden Panettiere, who voiced Kelly in "Kingdom Hearts", passed away earlier this month, and Tim Curry, a famous actor who has participated in games such as "Dragon Age: Origins", "Galaxy Commander 3" and "Savage Legend", also passed away the day before Cullen passed away (August 25).
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