Aiight. So. This week we lost three big celebrities, all octogenarians, all pretty much universally loved. Dolly Parton (80), Tim Curry (80), and Peter Cullen (85) passed on and many a tribute poured out across the world.
I’ve been thinking about that for the last several days, especially in the context of the big celebrity names we’ve lost this year (some of them far too young.) There were a lot of big celebrity deaths in 2016, and it looks like 2026 is looking to break the record.
I’m of two minds when it comes to openly mourning celebrities. On the one hand, I never knew them. No true personal connection, I’m not in the family, etc. “Why would you feel that way about a stranger?” Well, because on the other hand, they usually made or accomplished something that had an impact on me of some significance. Their legacy affected me in some way that no other stranger’s has.
Dolly Parton wasn’t one that I ever went out of my way to seek. I can only name one of her songs. I do remember seeing a quote on a book in 7th grade that said “If you want rainbows, you’ve got to put up with the rain,” attributed to her, and that was the first time I really started thinking about the trappings of success. It’s another version of the old proverb “Take what you want and pay for it, says God.” But in general people have shared accounts of Parton’s generosity and her work to improve literacy, which I do appreciate greatly, because literacy is the unacknowledged key to elevating both individuals and society.
I have fond memories of Tim Curry in a ton of stuff. I’ve actually never seen The Rocky Horror Picture Show, but he was in a lot of things I loved as a kid, like Muppet Treasure Island and Home Alone 2. My brothers and I were big into the Red Alert games and he has an iconic line from that one. I looked it up and he had a stroke about a decade ago so he’s been wheelchair-bound and dealing with lots of health problems. His work will live on and people will be able to discover it for a long time.
The biggest name for me personally was Peter Cullen, and most of you reading this will probably not know who he is. He voiced Optimus Prime from Transformers from the very beginning. He’s shared the story countless times over the years, how he went into the voice audition with some advice from his brother Larry, who was a retired Marine. Larry Cullen told him what a hero actually sounds like, how he’s not all yelling and machismo, but rather an integrated man who knows when to be strong and when to be calm. That affected Peter’s interpretation of the character and got him the role. The rest is history.
Cullen was the age I am now when he got that role, and I was born the same year that Transformers aired. Of all the IPs that I can claim to be a fan of, I have no greater love than the one I do for Transformers. I used to ride my bike to the Smith’s on Boulder Highway in Henderson as a kid, because it was the only place with a VHS copy of the 1986 movie that I could rent, and I watched it over and over. When they announced the live-action movie in 2006, I just about had a heart attack. I showed up for the midnight screening in 2007 with my hair colored in Bumblebee’s paint job. You probably saw me share the pictures on Twitter this week.
I saw the movie five times in theaters that summer. I expect they’ll have a 20th anniversary screening next year and I’ll take my sons to that. They already love Transformers like I do and they know what kind of fuel it has given to my imagination. Peter Cullen is a huge reason why. He didn’t just show up to a job, he made one of the all-time great cartoon characters.
In fact, he made several. And he did the voice-overs for Mobile Suit: Gundam Wing, and the old Toonami bumpers for Cartoon Network. If you’re an 80s/90s kid like me, his work is all over your childhood. His passing is a big, bright marker on the end of an era.
I don’t want to pretend this is a bigger deal than it is to me, even with all of that. I never got to meet the man, I just saw his interviews over the years, and watched him get a lifetime achievement award in 2023, delivered by his longtime friend and co-worker Frank Welker (who voiced Megatron, among others). Outside of cartoon fans, who bother to get the know the names of voice actors, most people won’t know who he was, and that’s fine. The man had a family, they knew him and loved him, and he had fans who were moved by and appreciated his work. He did that work well, by all accounts he was gracious, he kept his name clean, and he had a great run of 85 years.
We mourn the dead, as we ought to—but I think we can also celebrate them and just be grateful for their work. It’d be disingenuous for me to act as if the deaths of any of these celebrities affected me as much as it did the people who knew them. I’m just grateful. They made wonderful work, they inspired people, they lived their lives, and now they’ve gone on. What more can you ask for?
Thus, rest in peace Dolly Parton, Tim Curry, and especially for me, Peter Cullen, the one true voice of Optimus Prime. (No shade on Hemsworth, he did great when it was his turn.) I hope someday I can create something that will mean as much to others who enjoy reading and art. We’ll just have to see.
(On that note, go read one of my books.)
Drive safe. See you out there.
