Not gonna lie… this one hit hard. When you grow up loving something, it just punches you in the gut to know that it’s gone. Peter Robbins, the actor who provided the original voice for the Peanuts character Charlie Brown in such classics as It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, A Charlie Brown Christmas, and A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, has died at age 65. He died by suicide.
Robbins’ mental health issues were apparently well known, as he often discussed his struggles with bipolar disorder and paranoid schizophrenia. It’s interesting to note that the character of Charlie Brown himself seemed to exhibit traits of depression — a condition that Charlie Brown’s creator, Charles Schulz, apparently suffered from for most of his life.
My heart is broken today. I just found out that my good friend #PeterRobbins, the original voice of #CharlieBrown has died. May he rest in peace and soar in heaven . I only hope he finally kicks the football among the angels.. 🙏😇💔 My tributes on @fox5sandiego news from 430-730 pic.twitter.com/zthoaFihqu
— Phil Blauer (@PhilBFox5) January 26, 2022
According to NPR, “As a child actor, Robbins voiced one of Charlie Brown’s most memorable lines — ‘I got a rock’ — in the 1966 TV special It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.
A year earlier, Robbins spoke for multitudes of people who struggle with getting into the holiday spirit in A Charlie Brown Christmas.
‘I think there must be something wrong with me, Linus. Christmas is coming, but I’m not happy. I don’t feel the way I’m supposed to feel,’ Charlie Brown said, before he and the rest of the Peanuts gang rallied to transform a forlorn tree with their love. Discussing the depth of that moment years later, Robbins asked, ‘How could there be something wrong with a 9-year-old boy?'”
In a 2019 interview, he discussed his struggles with mental health, and how he “found redemption” in Charlie Brown. He even got a tattoo of Charlie Brown and Snoopy hugging each other.
As Charles Schulz said (through Snoopy) in the very last Peanuts comic strip he ever created before retiring (and which appeared in newspapers on the day of Schulz’s death from natural causes): “Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy…how can I ever forget them…”
If you or someone you know might be having thoughts of suicide, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline — their number is 1-800-273-8255 — or 1-800-273-TALK.
