It’s striking how much Peter Cullen did not not sound like Optimus Prime at all when you met him in-person. What makes this even more unusual is that I was even told he would not sound like Optimus Prime, and yet, I still kind of expected him to sound a little like Optimus Prime because, well … he’s Optimus Prime.
Peter Cullen died on Wednesday, August 26 at the age of 85 after a storied career that spanned seven decades of voice work. His career was so eclectic that his credits began as the announcer for “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour” and, over those following decades, included roles in “Knight Rider,” “Voltron,” “Rainbow Bright,” and, oh yeah, he was also the voice of The Predator.
But, of course, Cullen will always be remembered as Optimus Prime, the leader of the noble Autobots in numerous iterations of Transformers lore.
Cullen first voiced Optimus Prime in the original Sunbow produced “The Transformers” animated series back in 1984 — a series that existed to promote a Hasbro toy line of robots that could change into an assortment of vehicles. Cullen’s voice gave a sense of gravitas and importance to what many (adults) at the time considered a half hour toy ad. (Kids did not see it this way, yet it did sell a lot of Transformers toys.)
Cullen’s Optimus Prime could be gruff or fierce, but there was something stoic and always kind under the surface. And it’s kind of remarkable to watch those old cartoons and listen to how Cullen already had this voice pretty much fully formed from the first episode. (Though, it feels senseless to try and describe Cullen’s voice as Optimus Prime, because there’s truly little chance anyone reading this has somehow avoided it all this time.)
It’s one of the big reasons the Transformers forged its own identity that continues to this day. Consider its toy rival at the time, the GoBots, who now kind of live mostly as a slice of trivia. (The GoBots had their own animated series, “The Challenge of the GoBots,” and you will probably not be surprised to learn that Cullen also did voices for this show, too, but, to the detriment of the GoBots, not as a main character.)
It may be hard to remember now, but when Michael Bay’s “Transformers” was released in 2007, it was surrounded by controversy. Most of the characters looked and sounded different than they did in the animated series. This went well beyond just updating what a car looks like in 2007 compared to what it looked like in 1984. Take fan favorite villain Starscream for example. In the series, he’s a distinct white jet with a whiney, screeching voice (voiced by Chris Latta, who also voiced Cobra Commander in the G.I. Joe animated series). In Bay’s film, he’s unrecognizable as a standard gray jet where it needs to literally be pointed out, “That is Starscream.”
But it’s telling that not only did the look of Optimus Prime stay fairly similar to that of the animated series (there was also a big controversy that flames were added to Prime’s truck exterior) but Peter Cullen was asked to come back to reprise the role. Michael Bay seemed determined to upend this property and make it entirely his vision (it’s hard to argue with his box office results) but even Bay, eventually, realized he couldn’t make a Transformers movie without Cullen as Optimus Prime.
As the human cast cycled through many iterations, Cullen always remained as Prime. Cullen really was this franchise.
And Cullen is the reason Optimus Prime retained the attributes fans love so much about that character.
In 2012, I interviewed Peter Cullen at San Diego Comic-Con and asked about his role in Bay’s “Transformers” film. I just kind of assumed Bay wanted Cullen all along, this was not the case. Cullen said, “Well, I’m a pretty good fighter.”
I asked what he meant by that. Cullen explained, “Well, I auditioned at least three times. I stuck to my guns how I was going to do it and he was a very, very easy and understandable guy and a brilliant talent to put together all the things that he does — to keep in mind that huge thing. I’ve often compared him to being a general in a battle. But holding all those pieces together and under all that pressure, I was really glad that he actually didn’t give me any trouble and respected my presentation of it and, certainly, my stubbornness to change anything.”
Kind of like Optimus Prime himself, Cullen was a true guardian of a character who still means so much to so many people. A champion of good. So much so that even Michael Bay couldn’t say no to Cullen. Amid the cinematic chaos of what those Transformers movies would be, there was still Optimus Prime, anchoring the whole thing to some semblance of nobility.
This was not lost upon Cullen. When I mentioned the fans would have revolted if he hadn’t been back as Prime, Cullen smiled and said, “God love them.” Then added, “It didn’t, thanks to them.”