Peter Cullen, the legendary voice actor celebrated for bringing the character of Optimus Prime to life in the Transformers universe, has passed away at 85 years old.

Cullen’s iconic voice was a defining element of the beloved 1980s animated television series as well as the blockbuster live-action films directed by Michael Bay, featuring Shia LaBeouf.

Nostalgia lovers might also recognize him as the earnest voice behind Eeyore in “The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh,” a beloved series that aired from 1988 to 1991.

According to TMZ, Cullen’s agent reported that he passed away peacefully at his Los Angeles residence on Wednesday, though no further details about the cause were provided.

“Peter Cullen passed away peacefully, surrounded by his loving family – and held in the hearts of his many friends and countless fans worldwide,” shared his family in remembrance of his impactful legacy.

‘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,”‘ their statement continued.

Peter Claver Cullen was born in Montreal in 1941 and grew up with three siblings – one of whom, his brother Larry, was the basis for Optimus Prime’s voice.

Although he initially nurtured dreams of being a serious actor, studying Shakespeare as part of the first graduating class of the National Theatre School of Canada, he ‘soon came to the conclusion that I really wasn’t cut out to be the artsy guy,’ he said.

‘I had too much fun. I had followed the experience of grade school and high school by being the clown,’ he shared in an interview with The Young Folks. 

Cullen jobbed around in Montreal on local film and TV and began working nightclub revues, where he honed his talent for assuming a variety of accents and characters.

With his young wife and child in tow, he struck out to Hollywood for a show in the style of Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In that flopped, leaving him scrambling to pick up the pieces and eventually landing an announcing job on The Sonny & Cher Show.

It was his friend Jonathan Winters, the iconic comedian and star of It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, who advised him: ‘You know, Peter, what you ought to is, you ought to do your voices. Those voices, you could make a lot of bread.’ 

After working a string of ‘additional voices’ jobs on such shows as Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo and Alvin and the Chipmunks, he achieved his big break in 1984.

That year, he aced his ‘cattle call’ audition for the role of Optimus Prime, the chief of the heroic machines known as Autobots, on the show The Transformers.

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‘On the advice of my brother Larry – who is a Marine Corps captain and fought in Vietnam and when he came back he had a very different outlook on life – one day when he asked where I was going I said: “I’m going to audition for a truck,” and he laughed,’ Cullen recalled decades later.

‘And I said: “No, he’s a hero truck,” and then he got very serious and he said: “Well Peter, if you’re going to be a hero, be a real hero. Don’t be one of those phony Hollywood sounding types that think they’re tough and they’re not.”‘

Larry’s guidance to his younger brother was: ‘Be compassionate, be strong enough to be gentle, and have a little dignity. But be strong.’

When Cullen arrived at the audition, his brother’s voice was still ringing in his ears, and it was Larry’s intonation that emerged when he began playing Optimus Prime.

The show became a beloved children’s classic during its run from 1984 through 1987, producing what over the decades grew into a multi-billion-dollar franchise.

Cullen’s inimitable contribution was a mainstay, including in the 1986 animated feature The Transformers: The Movie, the swan song of Orson Welles. 

In 1988 he earned a job on The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh as the unshakably morose donkey Eeyore, a part he continued to play in projects like The Tigger Movie, A Very Merry Pooh Year, Piglet’s Big Movie, My Friends Tigger & Pooh, The Book of Pooh and House of Mouse.

He joked that stepping into the gentle world created by AA Milne was a ‘relief’ after his previous action-packed shows and films, speaking onstage at TF Con.

In 2007, his voice reached a massive global audience with the release of the first of the live-action Transformers movies directed by Michael Bay.

With an all-star cast featuring Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, John Turturro, Tyrese Gibson, Jon Voight and Anthony Anderson, the picture emerged as one of the highest-grossing of the year and resulted in a cavalcade of sequels.

The first five films were all helmed by Bay and two of them, Dark of the Moon in 2011 and Age of Extinction in 2014, earned over $1 billion apiece.

Cullen remained with the franchise after Bay left, voicing Optimus Prime most recently in the 2023 release Transformers: Rise of the Beasts.

For the following year’s picture Transformers One, which was conceived as an origin story, he was replaced by the younger-sounding Chris Hemsworth. 

When asked about his own Transformers films crossing the billion-dollar mark, Cullen said: ‘It’s a staggering thought, and it’s humbling at the same time,’ via IGN.

‘There is such great talent behind the scenes as well as from the artistry to the conception to the writing to the directing to the acting,’ he observed. 

‘For me, I take great pride in being a part of it. It will never cease to be an area of conversation in my life, and thankfully so, because it is such a positive feeling to be able to talk about it. It’s one of the highlights of my life.’

Judge Hippler has issued an order charting the course for Kohberger’s plea withdrawal efforts. The judge noted that while hearings are tentatively slated for June 2027, they remain flexible, with several procedural deadlines and expectations set for both parties in the months ahead.

“Should there be an evidentiary hearing, the proceedings are scheduled to commence on June 17, 2027, at 9:00 a.m.,” Judge Hippler stated.

Prosecutors have urged the court not to grant a hearing, labeling Kohberger’s allegations as lacking substance and devoid of supportable evidence.

The 31-year-old Kohberger had confessed to four counts of first-degree murder and a felony burglary for the deadly 2022 assaults on University of Idaho students Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20.

In a motion filed Tuesday, Deputy Latah County Prosecuting Attorney Keith Scholl asked for a transcript of Kohberger’s July 2, 2025, change of plea hearing, in which Kohberger’s own words could be used to rebut the new claims in his petition.

Kohberger, in a handwritten petition filed in July, is claiming he had ineffective counsel, that his guilty plea was “not knowingly or voluntarily entered because it was induced by unkept promises” and that it was “not voluntarily entered because of threats asserted by petitioner’s (Kohberger’s) legal counsel.”

But in 2025, Kohberger checked “no” when asked whether an attorney or anyone else had forced or coerced him into accepting the plea agreement or made other promises that influenced his decision.

He affirmed that there was nothing going on in his life that would impair his ability to enter his guilty plea voluntarily, and there was no reason he couldn’t make a “reasoned and informed decision” when he did so.

Read the state’s motion to dismiss Kohberger’s petition for post conviction relief:

Scholl asked Hippler to dismiss Kohberger’s petition outright.

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“The petition fails to raise a genuine issue of material fact, and respondent is entitled to judgment as a matter of law,” he wrote.

He added that Kohberger could have raised his claims of constitutional violations in an appeal — while the plea agreement itself says he waived his appellate rights. He said Kohberger’s petition included no facts to support his claim that he had ineffective counsel and wrote that Kohberger’s “freestanding claim of actual innocence” is unrecognized under the law.

Lastly, he wrote, Kohberger’s defense team wasn’t obligated to explain “the conditions of prison life or what the incarceration would practically entail as collateral consequences of a guilty plea.”

Read Hippler’s scheduling order:

Hippler set the following dates over the next few months for deadlines in the case:

He gave Kohberger until Nov. 13 — four years to the day after the murders — to file an amended petition. The state has 14 days to file a new answer once one is filed, or 14 days from the deadline if Kohberger doesn’t file one.

Kohberger must disclose witnesses, expert reports and opinions by Feb. 1, 2027.

The state’s rebuttal expert disclosures are due on March 1, 2027.

Discovery requests have to be completed by May 7, 2027.

Then a status conference and evidentiary hearing have been tentatively scheduled for June 3, 2027 and June 17, 2027, respectively.

The sides have 14 days from the order, made public Wednesday, to ask for any alterations to the schedule. Potentially, Hippler could grant an earlier hearing to resolve scheduling disagreements.

In a poignant defense, attorney Kevin Reddington described Lindsay Clancy as “a darn good mother” during his courtroom address.

Reddington emphasized Clancy’s exemplary life, asserting, “Objectively, this young lady has done nothing wrong. She has balanced roles as a nurse, daughter, wife, and has been an outstanding mother.”

Stay updated with The Post’s live coverage of the Lindsay Clancy trial

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The defense later pointed fingers at psychiatrist Dr. Jennifer Tufts, citing her as a pivotal factor in Clancy’s decline, due to her prescription of numerous psychiatric medications.

“She dedicated her life to her children until her visits with Dr. Tufts,” Reddington claimed. “After those appointments, her life was far from wonderful.”

Samuel Monroe Jr., the actor celebrated for his memorable role in the iconic 1993 film “Menace II Society,” has passed away at the age of 52. His tragic demise follows a prolonged and debilitating battle with meningitis, which kept him hospitalized for several months.

The seasoned actor had been on life support since April, grappling with a myriad of severe health complications stemming from his meningitis diagnosis.

Adding to the family’s distress, Monroe Jr. also contracted a methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) pneumonia infection, further aggravating his condition. He subsequently needed dialysis treatment due to kidney failure.

In a heartfelt post on Facebook, Monroe Jr.’s mother, Joyce Patton, shared the somber news of his passing, stating, “Today God called him home,” while seeking prayers for their bereaved family, particularly for his three children.

She expressed gratitude to friends and family on social media for their support, writing: “I want to thank all of my Facebook family and friends, new and old, for praying for Samuel Monroe, Jr., my son. But today, God called him home. Please honor my final request to pray for the family, especially his three children.”

The matriarch confirmed to TMZ that the actor died at the hospital around 10:24 PM on Wednesday.    

Monroe is best known for his role in 1993’s teen crime drama Menace II Society which starred Samuel L. Jackson, Tyrin Turner and Jada Pinkett Smith. He’s also been seen in Don’t Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood, Set It Off, Out All Night and NYPD Blue.

In April, Monroe Jr. had been put on dialysis due to severe kidney issues, amid his fight for life in a Southern California hospital.

The actor was diagnosed by doctors with failing kidneys, his spouse Shawna Stewart told TMZ at the time.

The grim news came just two days after Stewart said Monroe had recently been diagnosed with the lung infection methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) pneumonia.

Stewart said doctors had started a new antibiotic regimen to try to combat the bacteria, but now his family can only wait and see if the treatments are effective. 

Patients suffering from MRSA pneumonia, which is often contracted in hospitals, can have inflamed lungs that fill with fluid or pus, making breathing difficult, according to Healthline. 

MRSA pneumonia is resistant to several kinds of antibiotics, which also makes treating it more difficult. 

Individuals with MRSA pneumonia that isn’t quickly treated may develop potentially deadly sepsis – in which the body overreacts and begins to attack healthy tissues in response to an infection – and septic shock, in which blood pressure plummets and organs can fail in people suffering from sepsis.

Monroe is married to corporate tech executive and voice actor Stewart, and has two children: 12-year-old Kingston Monroe and 11-year-old Brooklynn Monroe 

Monroe’s mother, Joyce Patton, posted on Facebook, saying: ‘God don’t make no mistakes, but he is gracious, and I am humbly asking for his mercy and grace for Sam. I love you, son, to the moon and back 100 times.’

His family has also created a GoFundMe in order to help pay for his medical bills, as the description reads: ‘Every donation, no matter the size, will help ease the burden on Samuel’s family and ensure that Kingston and Brooklynn have the support they need while their father fights for his life.’

It was also revealed on the crowd funding page that the actor has endured two brain surgeries and is now on life support.

Stewart confirmed to Complex that the actor was on life support amid a prolonged battle with meningitis: ‘Around 18 months ago, Samuel was in Las Vegas filming, and unfortunately, that is where he contracted meningitis.

‘He went to several different hospitals, where his condition was repeatedly misdiagnosed and because of this negligence, the meningitis went untreated for eight months.’

She revealed that by the time the infection had been ‘finally identified,’ it had ‘already spread not only to his spine but also his brain.’ 

Stewart’s statement to Complex concluded by asking that their family is urging everyone to ‘keep him in their prayers, as Samuel remains on life support due to meningitis.’

He has recently been working as a director, writer and producer, producing his own TV series, The Halls, about children who enter the Juvenile Hall system at a young age.

In Menace II Society, he portrayed Ilena’s cousin as Ilena was portrayed by Erin Leshawn Wiley. Ilena is impregnated by main character Kaydee ‘Caine’ Lawson – portrayed by Tyrin Turner – who then stomps out Monroe Jr.’s character.

Ilena’s cousin then seeks vengeance as he and his friends drive-by shootout which results in the tragic death of Caine at the end of the film. 

Monroe Jr.’s latest role was as Zero in 2022 television film Shine Kings.

He also starred as The Intruder in the 2021 film Lockdown 2025 which is centered around a virus outbreak which leads to a nationwide lockdown with martial law declared.

Monroe Jr. also embarked on his own rap career with songs produced by stars including Battlecat and Duane Nettlesby.