Voice actor and announcer Peter Cullen has died at the age of 85 — we do not know from what. Peter's was a voice you heard…well, everywhere. In the world of animation, he voiced dozens of deep, low-voiced characters but the three most identifiable would be Optimus Prime in the Transformers series, Venger on the Dungeons & Dragons show, and he was one of several actors that Disney called on to speak for Eeyore in the Winnie the Pooh franchise. But you also heard him in hundreds of commercials and movie trailers and promos and dubbing other actors in movies and…
…well, put it this way: You couldn't have not heard Peter many times. He was that successful at what he did and he was also a dream to work with. I did, several times, including on the first cartoon I ever cast and voice-directed. Obviously, some of that success was due to him just being blessed with an amazing deep voice but he really knew how to use it and was a good and utterly professional actor.
Here's Peter at one of the many Transformers fan conventions. This clip will give you a sense of how good he was with his voice, how much his fans loved him and just what a good, nice man he was…