Peter Robbins (actor)

Peter Robbins (born Louis Nanasi,[1] August 10, 1956) is an American former child actor and real estate broker. Robbins earned national fame in the 1960s as being the first actor to voice Charlie Brown in the Peanuts animated specials. Robbins retired the entertainment industry as an adult, later pursuing a career in real estate and brief stints in radio.[1][2] Robbins spent much of the 2010s in legal trouble facing charges from threats and stalking; he served a four-year sentence in prison.[3]

Peter Robbins
Peter Robbins (left) with Will Hutchins, Patricia Harty and Pamelyn Ferdin in the television series Blondie (1968)
Born	Louis Nanasi (1956-08-10) August 10, 1956 Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation	Child actor, real estate broker
Years active	1963–1972
Known for	Voice of Charlie Brown

Career

Robbins is of Hungarian descent.[1] He first began acting in various films and television shows in 1963. As a child, he made a guest appearance as "Elmer" in the popular series The Munsters (1964).[1] Most distinctly, at the age of nine, Robbins provided Charlie Brown's voice in one television documentary, six Peanuts television specials and one movie from 1963–69, including the film A Boy Named Charlie Brown and the television specials A Charlie Brown Christmas and It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.

While Robbins, aged 14 in 1971,[4] was replaced by younger child actors in the Peanuts specials produced after the 1960s, his trademark scream of "AUGH!!", first used in It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, continued to be used in the later specials for Charlie Brown and other characters.[5]

Robbins appeared in an episode of F Troop in 1966 entitled "The Sergeant And The Kid" and appeared in an episode of Get Smart as the mysterious "Dr. T".[6] He also appeared in the 1967 film, Good Times starring Sonny & Cher.

Robbins graduated from the University of California, San Diego in 1979.[7] In 1996, he hosted a talk radio show in Palm Springs at KPSL 1010 Talk Radio.[8] By 2006, according to a broadcast by National Public Radio, he was managing real estate in Van Nuys, California.[2]

Legal troubles

On January 20, 2013, Robbins was arrested by San Diego County Sheriff's Department deputies at San Ysidro, California Homeland Security's Port of Entry, while re-entering the United States, and charged with "four felony counts of making a threat to cause death or great bodily injury and one felony count of stalking." The four counts involve four victims, including a San Diego Police sergeant, whom Robbins reportedly threatened with bodily harm during a January 13, 2013 incident.[6][9][10][11] He was held on $550,000 bond.[12] On May 8, 2013, he was sentenced to a year in jail for threatening his former girlfriend and stalking her plastic surgeon, but he was allowed to log time in treatment instead. After release, he was sent to a residential drug treatment center.[13]

In 2015, Robbins was arrested for multiple probation violations, including drinking alcohol and failing to complete mandatory domestic violence classes. On June 5, 2015, he was ordered to undergo a mental health exam after an outburst during a court proceeding in San Diego.[14]

On December 7, 2015, Robbins was sentenced to four years and eight months in prison as part of a plea agreement for sending threatening letters to a manager and his wife of the mobile home park in which he lived in Oceanside, California. Robbins has stated at previous hearings that he suffers from bipolar disorder and paranoid schizophrenia.[15] Robbins was incarcerated at the California Institution for Men in Chino, California and was transferred to a psychiatric hospital because of his mental state. He was released in 2019 "[a]fter serving 80 percent" of his sentence, under orders not to drink alcohol or take any illegal drugs.[3]

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1963	A Ticklish Affair	Grover Martin
	A Boy Named Charlie Brown	Charlie Brown	Voice role
1964	Rawhide	Mike
	The Donna Reed Show	Peewee
	Vacation Playhouse	Richard
	The Munsters	Elmer
	The Farmer's Daughter	Josh
	The Joey Bishop Show	Other Child	also Peter
1965	A Charlie Brown Christmas	Charlie Brown	Voice role
	Moment to Moment	Timmy Stanton
1966	And Now Miguel	Pedro
	Charlie Brown's All Stars!	Charlie Brown	Voice role
	Love on a Rooftop
	It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown	Charlie Brown	Voice role
	ABC Stage 67	Herbert
1967	The F.B.I.	Jobie
	F Troop	Joey Walker
	Good Times	Brandon
	You're in Love, Charlie Brown	Charlie Brown	Voice role
	Get Smart	Dr. Tattledove
1968	He's Your Dog, Charlie Brown	Charlie Brown	Voice role
1968-1969	Blondie	Alexander Bumstead
1969	It Was a Short Summer, Charlie Brown	Charlie Brown	Voice role
1970	Bracken's World	David
1971	Dinah's Place	Himself
1972	My Three Sons	Jeffrey Fredericks	Final role
1985	It's Your 20th Television Anniversary, Charlie Brown	Himself
1990	You Don't Look 40, Charlie Brown
2001	The Making of "A Charlie Brown Christmas"
2005	The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
	TV Land's Top Ten

Awards

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Title	Result
1971	Grammy Awards	Best Recording for Children	A Boy Named Charlie Brown	Nominated
1978		Best Recording for Children	A Charlie Brown Christmas	Nominated
1979		Best Recording for Children	Charlie Brown's All Stars!	Nominated
1980		Best Recording for Children	You're in Love, Charlie Brown	Nominated

References

1. Warth, Gary (July 25, 2010). "COMIC-CON: Good grief: Local resident became voice of Charlie Brown 45 years ago". UT San Diego. Retrieved December 9, 2014.
2. "'Great Pumpkin' Marks 40 Years on TV". NPR. October 27, 2006. Retrieved December 9, 2014.
3. Blauer, Phil (October 17, 2019). "'Charlie Brown' actor speaks after release from prison". KSWB-TV. Retrieved October 18, 2019.
4. Jones, Elton (January 23, 2013). "Voice of Charlie Brown Arrested for 'Threat to Cause Death or Bodily Harm'". Heavy.com. Retrieved December 9, 2014.
5. Potempa, Phillip (August 12, 2014). "Hollywood's Hardy Boy, Nurse Ratched and Charlie Brown here for autographs". Times of Northwest Indiana. Retrieved December 9, 2014.
6. "Good grief! Charlie Brown voice actor jailed". CNN. January 23, 2013.
7. Clark, Christine (July 19, 2010). "Good Grief: Charlie Brown meets Iron Man at Comic-Con". University of California, San Diego. Retrieved December 9, 2014.
8. Ortigas, Janet Grace (May 8, 2013). "Charlie Brown goes to jail". Guardian Liberty Voice. Retrieved December 9, 2014.
9. Lisa Brenner (January 23, 2013). "Original voice of Charlie Brown arrested for threatening ex-girlfriend and her breast surgeon". KPCC. Retrieved January 26, 2013.
10. Susan Shroder (January 22, 2013). "Voice of 'Charlie Brown' arrested in San Diego". San Diego Union Tribune. Retrieved January 26, 2013.
11. Julie Watson (January 23, 2013). "Voice actor for Charlie Brown arrested in Calif". WFIE. Associated Press. Retrieved January 26, 2013.
12. "Charlie Brown star arrested for stalking". 3 News NZ. January 24, 2013.
13. ""Charlie Brown" voice actor to serve sentence in rehab". CBS News. Retrieved May 9, 2013.
14. "Former Charlie Brown actor lashes out at sentencing". CBS 8. June 5, 2015. Retrieved June 6, 2015.
15. Dana Littlefield (December 7, 2015). "Former 'Charlie Brown' voice sentenced to prison". San Diego Union Tribune.

External links

• Peter Robbins on IMDb
• Peter Robbins at the TCM Movie Database
• Portrait of Peter Robbins, 1971. Los Angeles Times Photographic Archive (Collection 1429). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.