We lost the man behind one of the most recognizable voices of my childhood.
Peter Cullen, the legendary voice of Optimus Prime, passed away yesterday at his Los Angeles home. He was 85.
In 1984, Cullen was preparing to audition for Optimus when he talked to his older brother Larry, a Marine who had served in Vietnam. Larry told him not to play the typical Hollywood tough guy. A real hero didn’t need to yell and scream.
“Be strong enough to be gentle.”
Cullen took that advice into the audition and based Optimus on his brother. That calm, powerful voice became part of Transformers for more than 40 years.
His career went well beyond Optimus. Cullen was also Eeyore in Winnie the Pooh, KARR in Knight Rider and even helped create the Predator’s unforgettable sounds in the 1987 film.
His family used those same words from Larry in their statement after his death.
“Be strong enough to be gentle.”
More than 40 years later, I can’t think of a better way to remember him.
Rest in peace, Peter Cullen.
Till all are one.🙏
#PeterCullen #OptimusPrime #Transformers
Prime quotes from Wilt Chamberlain’s interview with Mike Lupica in 1982:
On Moses Malone — "People go crazy when he gets 31 rebounds in one game. I got 55 one day."
On Larry Bird — "The best there is."
On Bill Russell — "You never hear about people asking Russell to come back and play. When they call me, they’re looking for one guy instead of seven.”
On a return to the NBA at age 45 — "Of course... No question. Easy."
On the 1980s NBA — "I really think quality peaked in the 50s and 60s and early 70s. I think it's in a valley now..."
On the best player he ever saw — "I was."
In March 1968 against the Chicago Bulls, equipment issues forced Wilt Chamberlain to wear Johnny Green’s No. 16 jersey.
Wearing one of only three numbers he ever wore in his career (13, 54, 16), Wilt dropped a massive triple-double of 22 PTS, 30 REB, and 12 AST.
18-year-old Wilt Chamberlain scores a record-setting 90 points for Overbrook High in a 123-21 win over Roxborough High.
• Shooting: 36-of-41 from the field
• Season Average: 45.5 points per game
Wilt on his performance:
“Records are made to be broken... The players fed me. They deserve credit, too, because it couldn't have been done without them.”
When Bernard King went back-to-back with 50-point games in 1984, former Warriors coach Frank McGuire reminded everyone what Wilt Chamberlain did in 1961-62:
“Heck, that was nothing. Wilt averaged 50 points for the whole 80-game season the year I coached him... It was unbelievable. ‘When will everyone wake up and realize what a great player he was?’
Scoring 50 points was just an average night's work for Wilt. Afterwards he'd stroll off the court, drink a half-gallon of milk and take a cab back to the hotel. Then he'd have a T-bone steak, french fries and about half a dozen bottles of soda while he watched TV. I don’t think there will ever be anyone quite like him again.”
Rick Barry on the Warriors retiring Wilt Chamberlain’s No. 13 jersey in December 1999:
“It’s high time his jersey is up there. I wish it could have been under different circumstances. There was never a greater center in the history of the NBA than Wilt Chamberlain. Take a look at the skills it takes to play center and at the statistics, no one has done the things Wilt has done. For anybody to pick anybody other than Wilt, you’d have to be a moron.”
Wilt Chamberlain on Kareem Abdul-Jabbar breaking his all-time scoring record in April 1984:
“It’s curious. It’s really quite strange. If I had received half of the fanfare that Kareem is getting at this time, I wouldn't know what to do with myself.
It doesn’t quite make any sense. I’m not demeaning what Kareem has done because he’s fantastic, sensational. Kareem is the greatest scorer who ever played. He deserves it, but there are a few things that are bothering me about it.
If this record is so great, well, it’s only one of about 90 I held. I must be in a world by myself. I don't know what it is about him [Abdul-Jabbar].”