When the Peanuts gang premiered on television in the 1960’s, they used real children to portray the characters.
The boy who voiced Charlie Brown, Peter Robbins, died this January as a result of suicide at the age of 65. Nor further details of the death were given.
Robbins had his issues with mental illness and had been diagnosed with a bipolar disorder. His illness even resulted in a jail sentence for stalking.
Robbins’ agent Dylan Novack reported that Robbins was “ in a bad head space” and had checked himself into a mental hospital shortly after Christmas, but checked himself out on January 18 and was found dead in the days following.
He was born Louis G. Nanasi on August 10, 1956 in Los Angeles, the son of Hungarian immigrants. He began acting when he was just seven years old and became the first person to put a voice to the dour balk headed Charlie Brown for the first four years of the “Peanuts” cartoon series; but was replaced once his voice began to change.
Robbins appeared in a little over two dozen productions including seven Charlie Brown productions, his 1963 debut in “A Ticklish Affair”, “Rawhide”, “The Munsters”, “The F.B.I.”, “F Troop”, “Good Times”, “Get Smart”, “Blondie”, and “My Three Sons”.
He retired from acting in 1972, while still in his teens. He worked as a disc jockey for a time, graduated from the University of California in San Diego with degrees in psychology and communications, and worked in real estate.
Robbins named his own dog Snoopy.
No list of survivors was given.
Feature photo credit: Peter Robbins Blondie 1968 (cropped).JPG