The late Peter Cullen's career lasted more than 60 years, having brought iconic characters to life such as Eeyore, Super Mario, and the Predator. However, the role he was best known for is Optimus Prime, whom he began voicing in the 1984 Transformers animated series. It proved to be a definitive role for the actor and endeared him to fans around the globe. Cullen voiced Optimus in many iterations of the Transformers franchise, but there's one moment that managed to win over two different generations of fans.

Cullen's arc as Optimus Prime is an unusual one. The actor voiced Optimus in the original Transformers series and its accompanying 1986 animated movie, but other actors stepped into the role in subsequent years. Actor Garry Chalk voiced the similarly named "Optimus Primal" in Beast Wars and the follow-up series Beast Machines. After a short stint by Neil Kaplan in 2001's Transformers: Robots in Disguise cartoon, Chalk again voiced the character in the Unicron Trilogy of shows (Armada, Energon, and Cybertron), which aired from 2002 to 2005. For many, though, Cullen's status as the original actor makes him the definitive Optimus Prime.

A lot of Autobots and Decepticons have died through the years, but five Transformers deaths had a monumental impact on the franchise as a whole.

Peter Cullen's tenure as Optimus Prime left an unquestionable mark on audiences who grew up on the original "G1" incarnation of the brand. The actor gave the Autobot leader a mix of compassion and strength, imbuing him with a sense of war weariness; Optimus was a commander, but he was more focused on protecting his troops and the people of Earth than he did on vanquishing his enemies.

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