Original Charlie Brown Voice Actor Peter Robbins Dies by Suicide at 65

By admin On Jan 28, 2022

Peter Robbins, the original voice actor for Charlie Brown in the iconic Peanuts cartoons, has died by suicide at the age of 65.

Robbins’ family confirmed the tragic news to Fox 5 San Diego and asked for privacy as they grieve the loss of their loved one.

Robbins, who voiced Charlie Brown in the 1960s, reportedly struggled with various issues, including addiction, mental illness and legal problems, among other things. His agent, Dylan Novak, told TMZ that Robbins was in a bad place mentally and checked himself into a mental health facility in California right after Christmas.

Despite hospital staff encouraging the late actor to stay for several more weeks, Robbins checked himself out the week before his death. His last words to Novak were, “I really need your prayers.”

Robbins, born Louis Nanasi, started voicing Charlie Brown at the age of 9, a role he maintained until he was about 14 years old. As reported by Faithwire, He played the beloved character in holiday TV specials A Charlie Brown Christmas and It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. Robbins was also part of the first Peanuts film, A Boy Named Charlie Brown, released in 1969.

The character’s impact was so significant to Robbins that he got a Charlie Brown tattoo. He also had a Snoopy tattoo on one of his arms.

As an adult, Robbins’ life spiraled out of control as he faced struggles with bipolar disorder, addiction and jail time.

“I made a bunch of stupid, criminal threats in 2012,” Robbins told the Providence Journal.

In 2013, Robbins was sentenced to one year in jail for threatening and stalking his ex-girlfriend and the plastic surgeon who performed her breast-implant surgery. He was also charged with threatening a sheriff’s deputy that same year.

Two years later, Robbins would face even more jail time when he was sentenced to four years and eight months on behalf of a plea agreement for threatening mobile park owners, who kicked him out of his mobile home because of his use of drugs and alcohol.

At the same time, Robbins violated probation in 2015 for smoking marijuana, drinking alcohol, and flunking his court-mandated domestic-violence classes.

He was later released from jail in 2019.

“My five years in prison were a true trip through hell,” Robbins told The Journal. “At the end, I was successfully paroled into the hospital, where for the first time in my life I received treatment.”

Robbins also addressed his mental health issues to Fox 5 San Diego in 2019 and encouraged others like him to get treatment.

“I would recommend to anybody that has bipolar disorder to take it seriously because your life can turn around in the span of a month, like it did to me,” Robbins told the outlet. “I came out of prison, and I’m a better person for it. I’m much more humble and grateful and thankful that I lived through the experience.”

Milton Quintanilla is a freelance writer. He is also the co-hosts of the For Your Soul podcast, which seeks to equip the church with biblical truth and sound doctrine. Visit his blog Blessed Are The Forgiven.

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