Robert Carradine's Cause of Death Revealed

UPDATE Feb 28, 2026 8:50 AM CST

The death of Robert Carradine has officially been ruled a suicide, according to the Los Angeles Medical Examiner's Office. Its report found that the 71-year-old Lizzie McGuire actor died on Monday of "sequelae of anoxic brain injury" from hanging. Page Six cites the Brain Injury Association of America in noting that anoxic injury occurs when the brain's oxygen supply is entirely cut off. Carradine's body has reportedly been released to his family. (If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988 or visit 988lifeline.org.)

Feb 24, 2026 7:41 AM CST

Robert Carradine, the actor best known for battling harassing jocks in Revenge of the Nerds and later for being a father figure in Lizzie McGuire, has died at 71, his family said. The actor, part of the famed Carradine acting family as the youngest son of John Carradine, died by suicide after what relatives described as nearly 20 years of living with bipolar disorder. "It is an illness that got the best of him," brother Keith Carradine tells Deadline, adding that the family wants to chip away at the stigma around mental illness.

Carradine made his film debut opposite John Wayne in 1972's The Cowboys and drew critical notice in the Oscar-winning flick Coming Home, followed by Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets. He also co-starred with his brothers in Walter Hill's The Long Riders. But it was the role of nerd leader Lewis Skolnick in the 1984 comedy Revenge of the Nerds that "embedded him in the consciousness of a generation," per Deadline. Later, he would find a new audience as dad Sam McGuire on Disney Channel's Lizzie McGuire.

"This one hurts," Lizzie McGuire star Hilary Duff wrote of her on-screen dad. "It's really hard to face this reality about an old friend," she added, noting he made her feel "so cared for." Away from sets, Carradine played guitar with family and folk legends, raced cars at the Grand Prix level, and was closely involved in the lives of his children and grandchildren.