Robert was instrumental in securing his brothers David and Keith to perform with him in one of the most unusual casting arrangements in movie history. Together the Carradines played the ‘Younger Brothers’ in The Long Riders (1980) along with three other sets of acting brothers: Stacy & James Keach, Dennis &  Randy Quaid, and Christopher & Nicholas Guest.

 

Also in 1980, Carradine co-starred with Mark Hamill and Lee Marvin in Samuel Fuller's The Big Red One recounting Fuller's WW II experience. His character, who was based on Fuller himself, narrated the film.

 

In 1983, he and Cherie Curie starred in the science fiction movie Wavelength in which he played a washed-up rock star who helps extraterrestrials escape from a military base. For the film, he performed his own compositions including one named after his daughter, Ever. Also in 1983, he starred in the music video for The Motels hit song Suddenly Last Summer, as lead singer Martha Davis' love interest.

 

Carradine's biggest film success to date came in 1984 when he starred in Revenge of the Nerds as the lead nerd ‘Lewis Skolnick’. To prepare for the comedy, Carradine spent time at The University of Arizona, where the movie was filmed, participating in rush week. "No fraternity picked him, convincing Carradine that he was indeed right for the part of the nerd that nobody wanted to claim as their own." Carradine reprised the role of Skolnick in three sequels, taking over as executive producer in the latter two. In 2001 he played ‘Donald Keeble’ in Max Keeble's Big Move. In 2000 he co-starred with Caroline Rhea in Mom's Got a Date with a Vampire.

 

On television, Robert also appeared on his brother David's series, Kung Fu, as ‘Sunny Jim’, the mute companion of ‘Serenity Johnson’, played by his father, John, in an episode called Dark Angel (1972). In 1979, he was alongside Melissa Sue Anderson in Survival of Dana. In 1984, Carradine played ‘Robert Cohn’ in the television mini-series version of Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises. He appeared in the 1987 HBO mini-series, Conspiracy: The Trial of the Chicago 8. Robert also guest starred in an episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent entitled Gone (2005, Season 4). He appeared in the ER episode Sleepless in Chicago alongside Nerds co-star Anthony Edwards.

 

Robert played father ‘Sam McGuire on the very popular Lizzie McGuire from 2001-2003. The show starred Hilary Duff as ‘Lizzie’ and was widely embraced among girls. The show's realistic approach to the problems of a 13-year-old girl also appealed to parents. He reprised his role as ‘Sam’ in The Lizzie McGuire Movie in 2003 and in the Lizzie McGuire Reboot in 2019, developed & shot by Disney but not moved forward to series.His latest feature film work includes the western, Justice (2017) as well as the holiday comedies, American Christmas (2019) and High Holiday (2021).