{"id":487966,"date":"2026-02-24T17:04:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T17:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/487966\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T17:04:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T17:04:09","slug":"robert-carradine-revenge-of-the-nerds-star-dies-at-71","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/487966\/","title":{"rendered":"Robert Carradine, ‘Revenge of the Nerds’ star, dies at 71"},"content":{"rendered":"

Robert Carradine,<\/a> the youngest of his prolific Hollywood family and whose biggest hit was the 1984 comedy \u201cRevenge of the Nerds,\u201d has died at 71.<\/p>\n

In a Tuesday statement, his family said he lived with bipolar disorder for two decades. His brother told Deadline that Carradine died by suicide.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want people to know it, and there is no shame in it,\u201d Keith Carradine told Deadline<\/a>. \u201cIt is an illness that got the best of him, and I want to celebrate him for his struggle with it, and celebrate his beautiful soul. He was profoundly gifted, and we will miss him every day.\u201d <\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

EDITOR\u2019S NOTE \u2014 This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Known for both his film and television work, Robert Carradine worked steadily in the industry for over 40 years. Though he collaborated with some of the most respected directors of the day, he never gained the worldwide recognition of his more famous siblings Keith Carradine (also the father of Martha Plimpton)<\/a> and half-brother David Carradine, who died in 2009. <\/p>\n

Robert Carradine, a Los Angeles native and son to character actor John Carradine, was introduced to audiences with roles on the television series \u201cBonanza\u201d in 1971 and in the John Wayne Western \u201cThe Cowboys\u201d in 1972.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Robert<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"This<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Despite his family background, acting wasn\u2019t his first calling, though.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always had a passion to be a race car driver, and that\u2019s what I thought I was going to do, and at some penultimate moment \u2026 I think I was sitting with my brother David when \u2018The Cowboys\u2019 was being cast, and they were interested in David as the bad guy, and he didn\u2019t want to be the guy that shot John Wayne in the back,\u201d Carradine recalled in a 2013 interview with Popdose.<\/a> \u201cBut he said, \u2018You know, it is called The Cowboys, and they\u2019re meeting all these young guys. Why don\u2019t you go in?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to starring in a short-lived television spinoff of \u201cThe Cowboys,\u201d and appearing alongside David Carradine in his popular ABC series \u201cKung Fu,\u201d he would go on to nab roles in Martin Scorsese\u2019s \u201cMean Streets,\u201d Hal Ashby\u2019s Vietnam drama \u201cComing Home,\u201d<\/a> and Samuel Fuller\u2019s World War II film \u201cThe Big Red One.\u201d<\/p>\n

The heights of his brother David\u2019s success eluded Robert Carradine, but the two could often be seen in the same projects, including in Walter Hill\u2019s \u201cThe Long Riders\u201d and Paul Bartel\u2019s \u201cCannonball.\u201d<\/p>\n

Robert Carradine\u2019s biggest hit would come in 1984 with the off-color comedy \u201cRevenge of the Nerds,\u201d in which he played head nerd Lewis Skolnick, with his abrupt, infectious and guttural laugh. He reprised the role for the big-screen sequel and two made-for-television follow-ups, and continued to pay homage to the beloved character with a guest role on the series \u201cRobot Chicken\u201d and as a co-host (with \u201cRevenge of the Nerds\u201d co-star Curtis Armstrong) of the pop culture competition show \u201cKing of the Nerds,\u201d which aired for three seasons.<\/p>\n

In the late 1980s and 1990s, according to the family statement, Carradine realized his racing ambitions and was a driver for Lotus. In the 2000s, Carradine gained small-screen success in The Disney Channel\u2019s \u201cLizzie McGuire\u201d as the eponymous character\u2019s father.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really hard to face this reality about an old friend,\u201d Hilary Duff, who played Lizzie McGuire, wrote on Instagram. \u201cThere was so much warmth in the McGuire family and I always felt so cared for by my on-screen parents. I\u2019ll be forever grateful for that. I\u2019m deeply sad to learn Bobby was suffering.\u201d<\/p>\n

Work remained consistent even if the projects diminished in prestige and quality. Then Quentin Tarantino, ever the champion of fading character actors, cast Carradine in \u201cDjango Unchained\u201d as one of the trackers in the 2012 film after seeing a \u201cvery furry\u201d photograph, as Carradine told Popdose. <\/p>\n

In 2015, Carradine was cited for a Colorado crash<\/a> that injured him and his wife, Edith Mani. They later divorced, after more than 25 years of marriage.<\/p>\n

Carradine\u2019s survivors include his three children, actor Ever Carradine, Marika Reed Carradine and Ian Alexander Carradine.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhenever anyone asks me how I turned out so normal, I always tell them it\u2019s because of my dad. I knew my dad loved me, I knew it deep in my bones, and I always knew he had my back,\u201d Ever Carradine wrote on Instagram. \u201cI think it\u2019s partly because we basically grew up together. Twenty years age difference really isn\u2019t that much, and while I never ever thought of him as a sibling, I did always think of him as my partner. We were in it together.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Robert Carradine, the youngest of his prolific Hollywood family and whose biggest hit was the 1984 comedy \u201cRevenge…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":487967,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[1927,2356,7569,224182,224179,224181,88,224183,75272,224180,224184,140338,150775,224178,139571,224187,22282,54421,206,3509,224185,59523,223870,28832,224186],"class_list":{"0":"post-487966","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-ap-top-news","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-celebrity-deaths","11":"tag-curtis-armstrong","12":"tag-david-carradine","13":"tag-edith-mani","14":"tag-entertainment","15":"tag-hal-ashby","16":"tag-hilary-duff","17":"tag-ian-alexander-carradine","18":"tag-john-carradine","19":"tag-john-wayne","20":"tag-keith-carradine","21":"tag-lewis-skolnick","22":"tag-lizzie-mcguire","23":"tag-marika-reed-carradine","24":"tag-martha-plimpton","25":"tag-martin-scorsese","26":"tag-movies","27":"tag-notable-deaths","28":"tag-paul-bartel","29":"tag-quentin-tarantino","30":"tag-robert-carradine","31":"tag-samuel-fuller","32":"tag-walter-hill"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487966","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=487966"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487966\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/487967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=487966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=487966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=487966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}