Since I do not bother with the mainstream whore-media beyond a certain point, I am always and invariably late to learn about things that happen in the entertainment industry. Most of the time, this is a VERY Good Thing, given what the various adult pretenders of the world get up to in their spare time.

Sometimes, however, we end up losing someone who genuinely brought great value and joy to people’s lives, and defined the childhoods of entire generations.

We lost exactly such a man recently. I arrived back from a business trip late on Thursday night, only to learn that Peter Cullen, the voice and undeniable presence of Optimus Prime, from almost all of the various incarnations of the Transformers franchise, had passed:

“Peter Cullen passed away peacefully, surrounded by his loving family – and held in the hearts of his many friends and countless fans worldwide,” Motley said in a statement. “His family asks that you honor his remarkable legacy by serving your communities and leading others with compassion, integrity, and loyalty and always remember ‘be strong enough to be gentle.’”

Cullen racked up more than 200 credits during a career that spanned more than 60 years. Along with his Transformers and Winnie the Pooh work, Cullen lent his voice to the toon series The Smurfs, DuckTales, Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers, Ghostbusters, Voltron: Defender of the Universe, Alvin & the Chipmunks, Donkey Kong, Heathcliff & the Cadillac Cats, Dragon’s Lair, The Addams Family, Dungeons & Dragons, Gummi Bears, Rainbow Brite, Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs, BraveStarr, The Savage Dragon, Widget, the World Watcher, the early-’80s Spider-Man, multiple G.I. Joe iterations and dozens more.

Born on July 28, 1941, in Montreal, Cullen began his career in Canadian radio and got his big break when he was tapped as an announcer for the groundbreaking late-1960s comedy/variety series The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. Mixing humor and music with politics and the counterculture, the show was a hit with fans but not networks censors.

From there, Cullen would work consistently for the next five-plus decades. He was a regular on the hit CBS variety series The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour from its 1971 launch to 1974, following with stints on variety shows fronted by Wolfman Jack and the Hudson Brothers during the genre’s heyday.

By the late 1970s, Cullen had pivoted mainly to voicing animation projects. His first brush with signature character Optimus Prime, the heroic leader of the shape-shifting Autobots, was in the syndicated 1984 series Transformers. He played the role based on the Hasbro toy line for the show’s entire four-season run that ended in 1987.

Although he moved on to voice characters in scores of others TV series, specials and movies, Cullen hardly was done with Prime. Two decades later, Michael Bay resurrected the franchise with Transformers, the big-budget 2007 film and brought Cullen back as the voice of its main nonhuman character. The Paramount Pictures movie was an international smash, leading to a multi-film gold mine that is among the highest-grossing franchises in Hollywood history.

Not gonna lie – this one really hit me.

I grew up watching Transformers on Sunday mornings, and later, when satellite TV became a thing, on Cartoon Network. The calm, steady, powerful voice of the heroic leader of the Autobots was one of those influences that shaped my generation as kids.

The story behind how Cullen came up with that iconic voice is a beautiful one, which he himself always loved to tell:

“Be strong enough to be gentle”. That is what Larry Cullen told his younger brother. And that is what Peter Cullen brought to the role.

The humanity and compassion that he channelled, was that of his own brother – and it was that humanity that grounded what was, let’s face facts, a ridiculous premise.

Transformers, as a show, should not have worked. I mean, trucks turning into robots and vice versa, firing lasers and saving humanity? Come on. The idea is absurd.

And yet… it did work, precisely because the lead characters embodied classic stories of heroism and villainy that are universal in our literature.

That is why the death of Optimus Prime in the first Transformers film was such a major event:

Heck, when he died in those bonkers Michael Bay films, it felt real, and had weight:

Thus ends a truly legendary era of voice acting. One by one, the greats are leaving us – and we have lost one of the best.

Clear skies, Mr. Cullen.