The autobots will roll out no more after Peter Cullen, the Canadian voice actor who lent his vocals to the robots’ leader Optimus Prime, passed away on Wednesday in Los Angeles at the age of 85.
Cullen’s agent Kevin Motley confirmed the actor’s passing to The Hollywood Reporter, saying he died in his home.
A statement from Cullen’s family said he had “died peacefully, surrounded by his loving family — and held in the hearts of his many friends and countless fans worldwide”.
His family asked his fans to “honour his remarkable legacy by serving your communities and leading others with compassion, integrity and loyalty and always remember [to] ‘be strong enough to be gentle’”.
Cullen was best known for playing the deep-voiced Optimus in the 1987 animated series and subsequent productions from the Transformers franchise. In a 2014 interview, he talked about how strange it was to audition for the role. “I auditioned like everybody else. I was told it was a hero and I was told it was a truck.”
