‘This one hurts’: Hilary Duff pays tribute to Lizzie McGuire co-star Robert Carradine

Robert Carradine, best known for his roles in Lizzie McGuire and the 1984 comedy Revenge of the Nerds, has died at 71. The actor, who struggled for two decades with bipolar disorder, has died according to a statement released by his family on Tuesday.

Tributes began flowing shortly after the news of Carradine’s death. Hilary Duff, his co-star and fictional daughter in the popular Disney television series Lizzie McGuire, said her heart ached for Carradine and his family.

“This one hurts. It’s really hard to face this reality about an old friend,” Duff wrote on Instagram on Tuesday night. She also shared two photos of her and Carradine while shooting the show.

“There was so much warmth in the McGuire family and I always felt so cared for by my on-screen parents. I’ll be forever grateful for that. I’m deeply sad to learn Bobby was suffering.”

Jamie Lee Curtis, who previously dated Carradine, also shared a lengthy tribute on Instagram, reminiscing about when they first met on set of the Dinah Shore show where they became “a little family” and where she first experienced “domesticity, motherhood and partnership.

“He was my first crush in the movies and I didn’t realise it,” Curtis wrote. “We remained friends after we broke up and Ever [Carradine’s daughter] and I have as well. The long and winding road. Rest in speed and humour and love, Bobby.”

In a statement shared with Deadline on Tuesday, Carradine’s brother Keith said the family wanted people to know about Carradine’s mental health struggles, and that there is “no shame in it.

“It is an illness that got the best of him, and I want to celebrate him for his struggle with it, and celebrate his beautiful soul. He was profoundly gifted, and we will miss him every day,” Keith said.

Known for both his film and television work, Carradine worked steadily in the industry for over 40 years. Though he collaborated with some of the most respected directors of the day, he never gained the worldwide recognition of his more famous siblings Keith (also the father of Martha Plimpton) and half-brother David, who died in 2009.

Carradine, a Los Angeles native and son to character actor John Carradine, was introduced to audiences with roles on the television series Bonanza in 1971 and in the John Wayne Western The Cowboys in 1972.

However, despite his family background, acting wasn’t his first calling.

“I always had a passion to be a race car driver, and that’s what I thought I was going to do, and at some penultimate moment … I think I was sitting with my brother David when The Cowboys was being cast, and they were interested in David as the bad guy, and he didn’t want to be the guy that shot John Wayne in the back,” Carradine recalled in a 2013 interview with Popdose. “But he said, ‘You know, it is called The Cowboys, and they’re meeting all these young guys. Why don’t you go in?’”

In addition to starring in a short-lived television spinoff of The Cowboys, and appearing alongside his half-brother David in his popular ABC series Kung Fu, he would go on to nab roles in Martin Scorsese’s Mean Streets, Hal Ashby’s Vietnam drama Coming Home, and Samuel Fuller’s World War II film The Big Red One.

The heights of his sibling David’s success eluded Carradine, but the two could often be seen in the same projects, including in Walter Hill’s The Long Riders and Paul Bartel’s Cannonball.

Carradine’s biggest hit would come in 1984 with the off-colour comedy Revenge of the Nerds, in which he played head nerd Lewis Skolnick, with his abrupt, infectious and guttural laugh. He reprised the role for the big-screen sequel and two made-for-television follow-ups, and continued to pay homage to the beloved character with a guest role on the series Robot Chicken and as a co-host (with Revenge of the Nerds co-star Curtis Armstrong) of the pop-culture competition show King of the Nerds, which aired for three seasons.

In the late 1980s and 1990s, according to the family statement, Carradine realised his racing ambitions and was a driver for Lotus. In the 2000s, Carradine gained small-screen success in Lizzie McGuire as the eponymous character’s father.

Work remained consistent even if the projects diminished in prestige and quality. Then Quentin Tarantino, ever the champion of fading character actors, cast Carradine in Django Unchained as one of the trackers in the 2012 film after seeing a “very furry” photograph, as Carradine told Popdose.

In 2015, Carradine was cited for a Colorado crash that injured him and his wife, Edith Mani. They later divorced, after more than 25 years of marriage.

Carradine’s survivors include his three children, actor Ever Carradine, Marika Reed Carradine and Ian Alexander Carradine.

“Whenever anyone asks me how I turned out so normal, I always tell them it’s because of my dad. I knew my dad loved me, I knew it deep in my bones, and I always knew he had my back,” Ever wrote on Instagram. “I think it’s partly because we basically grew up together. Twenty years age difference really isn’t that much, and while I never ever thought of him as a sibling, I did always think of him as my partner. We were in it together.”

With AP

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