Peter Cullen
| The name or term "Peter" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Peter (disambiguation). |
Peter Cullen (July 28, 1941 -) is a Canadian-born American voice actor who has earned fame, respect and admiration as the voice of the original Optimus Prime.
During San Diego Comic-Con 2006 it was announced that he would be voicing Optimus Prime in the 2007 movie as well. And there was much rejoicing (One person started complaining. He was torn limb from limb, skewered and eaten).
In addition to Transformers, some of Cullen's other roles include Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh, Venger from Dungeons & Dragons, Bankjob Beagle from Ducktales, Cindarr from Visionaries, Zandar and Nemesis Enforcer from G.I. Joe, K.A.R.R. from Knight Rider, the Narrator from Voltron, and the title villain from Predator. He has also recently done announcer work for commercials for the U.S. Navy, temporarily taking over the job from Keith David.
Roles
Generation 1
- Frankenstein's monster (episode 17)
- Halo (episode 16)
- Ironhide
- It (episode 95)
- Nightstick
- Optimus Prime
- Clone (episode 27)
- Slugslinger
- Streetwise
- Wingspan
Notes
- In 1984, he created the voice of Optimus Prime by emulating the mannerisms of his older brother Larry, who had served in the United States Marine Corps in the Vietnam War. Specifically, he based Prime's voice and mannerisms upon Larry's calm, controlled and authoritative approach to serious situations.[1]
- Yes, Optimus Prime is his favorite voice acting role.
- He also loves being Eeyore.
- At BotCon 2007, Peter Cullen said he'd love to own one of the three modified Peterbilt 379 trucks used in the filming of Transformers. Let's try and picture Optimus Prime driving himself for a moment. Has your brain exploded yet from the sheer awesomeness?
- The mid-range Voyager class Movie Optimus Prime toy (in its many releases) features a non-removable cowboy-hat-bedecked driver figurine that flips out of the seat when the driver's side door is closed. This appears to be based on Peter Cullen himself. Awesome.
- In Alliance issue 1, Optimus Prime creates a holo-driver for himself in the likeness of Cullen. Epps thought it was perfect. Odds are, so would most of the fandom.
- He was also the Toonami announcer (or as TOM called him: "The Big Guy") for many years, allowing him to narrate commercials for Armada, Energon and Cybertron.
- Peter was asked to reprise Optimus Prime in an episode of Robot Chicken, where the character would enact a dramatization that he's dying from prostate cancer. He turned down the offer as he took the role too seriously to make fun of it, which the Adult Swim people respected him for.
- Cullen also provided the voice of the Renegade GoBots Pincher, Spoiler, Tank and Block Head in the Challenge Of The GoBots animated series.
- In the 1976 remake of King Kong, he had an uncredited role voicing the great ape. Cullen injured his throat and coughed blood after a recording session that took five to six hours.[2] We could throw in another joke about Trukk not munky on this subject, but really, that would be redundant at this point.
