JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
If you came of age in the '80s, perhaps you remember Robert Carradine as a nerd.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "REVENGE OF THE NERDS")
ROBERT CARRADINE: (As Lewis Skolnick, singing) She wore an itsy, bitsy, teenie, weenie, yellow, polka dot bikini.
SUMMERS: A freshman in college, obsessed with girls, seeking vengeance against the jocks who bullied him and his friends in 1984's "Revenge Of The Nerds" and the sequels that followed.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "REVENGE OF THE NERDS")
R CARRADINE: (As Lewis Skolnick, laughter).
MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Although to younger millennials, he was a goofy, sometimes embarrassing TV dad to middle schooler Lizzie McGuire.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "LIZZIE MCGUIRE")
R CARRADINE: (As Sam McGuire) I'm going to have dinner this weekend with Lizzie. Just the two of us.
HALLIE TODD: (As Jo McGuire) Oh, that's very sweet.
R CARRADINE: (As Sam McGuire) No, it'll be great. I mean, all I got to do is show her how I can be down. I mean, I am right on with the kids, you know? And I am the real Sam Shady.
KELLY: He played Sam McGuire in the Disney Channel show that launched Hilary Duff to fame in the early 2000s. Duff wrote on social media that she will be forever grateful for the warmth and care of her on-screen father. This was after Robert Carradine's real-life family announced he died on Monday. He was 71 years old.
SUMMERS: He came from a family of actors. He was the youngest son of John Carradine and was a brother to David and Keith Carradine. And he didn't start out playing dorks or dads.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE COWBOYS")
R CARRADINE: (As Slim Honeycutt) My name's Honeycutt. I'm 15, and everybody calls me Slim.
SUMMERS: He made his big-screen debut when he was 17 in the 1972 John Wayne western "The Cowboys." He showed up in a Martin Scorsese crime drama, "Mean Streets," and in an Oscar-nominated Vietnam War drama, "Coming Home." In 1980, he was a cowboy again, alongside his real-life brothers in "The Long Riders."
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE LONG RIDERS")
R CARRADINE: (As Bob Younger) How long you think it'll take that posse to get here?
DAVID CARRADINE: (As Cole Younger) There won't be one.
R CARRADINE: (As Bob Younger) How come we're standing guard?
D CARRADINE: (As Cole Younger) 'Cause every once in a while, I'm wrong.
KELLY: So Carradine had been in a few more serious movies when he was tapped to play that nerdy incoming college freshman.
(SOUNDBITE OF PODCAST, "PARTY NERDS POP-CAST")
R CARRADINE: The title of the film was so off-putting to me, I didn't even want to meet. I'm playing a nerd. I didn't even want to say it out loud.
KELLY: But over time, he came to embrace that role. In fact, he made those comments on his own podcast, the "Party Nerds Pop-Cast." Today, his co-host Richard Gabai posted...
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
RICHARD GABAI: I'm lucky to have had a best friend like Bobby, the most caring, kind and generous person you could imagine. We spoke every day. I'm going to miss him every day.
SUMMERS: In a statement to Deadline Hollywood, his family acknowledged his valiant struggle against his nearly two-decade battle with bipolar disorder. Several family members have confirmed to different publications that he died by suicide. The family statement also reads, quote, "In a world that can feel so dark, Bobby was always a beacon of light to everyone around him."
If you or someone you know may be considering suicide or is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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