Peter Robbins’ cause of death, confirmed

It’s been more than two years since Peter Robbins met his untimely demise, and fans are still coping with his loss. 

The original voice of Charlie Brown and a staple of voice acting across several decades, Robbins may not be recognizable to everyone, but his vocals certainly are. Even after he was replaced by a new young star on Charlie Brown, the program continued to use sound bites of Robbins, ensuring that he always had ties to the beloved children’s program. 

The role that defined Robbins’ career was over by the time he was 14, which left him with most of a lifetime to branch out into other roles. Charlie Brown followed him forever — something Robbins welcomed — but the star went on to enjoy a flourishing career in television and a solid stint in movies, despite the persisting struggles that weighed him down. 

How did Peter Robbins die?

Peter Robbins was active in Hollywood across most of his life, starting in 1963 — when he was only seven years old — when he starred in both A Ticklish Affair and A Boy Named Charlie Brown. Subsequent years saw Charlie Brown become Robbins’ calling card, as he starred in a subsequent seven Charlie Brown projects, not including the 20th television anniversary that released in 1985, 1990’s You Don’t Look 40, Charlie Brown, or 2001’s The Making of “A Charlie Brown Christmas.”

He was in plenty of other projects as well, including Good Times, which he starred in alongside Sonny and Cher, but he’ll always be remembered for lending his voice to among animation’s most iconic characters. His fame was extremely self-contained, unlike some of today’s mega-stars, but his loyalty to the character — who he considered his childhood hero — never wavered. 

Despite the joy he brought to so many, Robbins suffered from a lifelong battle with his mental health. He was open about several diagnoses he received through his life, including bipolar disorder and paranoid schizophrenia, both of which massively impacted his ability to regulate his emotions. As a result, he experienced several violent clashes with his peers and the law, which landed him with several arrests.

Back in 2020, it seemed like Robbins was really improving. After struggling to find a balance for decades, he secured the correct medication for his bipolar disorder and returned to the public eye, but that high point was unfortunately short-lived. Robbins ultimately took his own life just two years later, in January of 2022. The news was officially announced to the world a week later, devastating longtime fans of the then-65-year-old star and serving as a stark reminder of the toll taken by mental illness.