Acting · 1944–2003 · Los Angeles, California, USA
Robert George Kardashian (February 22, 1944 – September 30, 2003) was an American attorney and businessman. He gained recognition as O. J. Simpson's friend and defense attorney during Simpson's 1995 murder trial. He and O.J. Simpson first met around 1967 while both of them were at USC and became close friends. Simpson was the best man at Kardashian and Kris Houghton's wedding in 1978.
Following the June 12, 1994, murder of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman, Simpson stayed in Kardashian's house to avoid the media. Kardashian was the man seen carrying Simpson's garment bag the day that Simpson flew back from Chicago. Prosecutors speculated that the bag may have contained Simpson's bloody clothes or the murder weapon. When Simpson failed to turn himself in at 11 a.m. on June 17, 1994, Kardashian read a letter by Simpson to the assembled media. This letter was interpreted by many as a suicide note.
Kardashian had let his license to practice law become inactive before the Simpson case but reactivated it to aid in Simpson's defense as a volunteer assistant on his legal team, alongside Simpson's main defense attorneys, Robert Shapiro and Johnnie Cochran. As one of Simpson's lawyers and a member of the defense "Dream Team", Kardashian could not be compelled or subpoenaed to testify against Simpson in the case, which included Simpson's past history and behavior with his ex-wife Nicole, and as to the contents of Simpson's garment bag. He sat by Simpson throughout the trial.
The New York Times reported that Kardashian said in a 1996 ABC interview with Barbara Walters that he had begun to question Simpson's innocence: "I have doubts. The blood evidence is the biggest thorn in my side; that causes me the greatest problems. So I struggle with the blood evidence." Kardashian and Simpson ultimately stopped speaking to each other.
Married from 1978 to 1991, he had four children with his first wife, Kris Kardashian (née Houghton, later Jenner): Kourtney, Kim, Khloé, and Rob, who appeared on their family reality television series, Keeping Up with the Kardashians, and its spinoffs.
He dated Priscilla Presley from 1975 to 1976. The pair were introduced by his sister-in-law Joan, who had previously been married to Joe Esposito, road manager for Elvis. On an episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians, his daughter Kim stated that the two were briefly engaged.
He was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in July 2003. He died two months later, on September 30, 2003, at his home in Encino, Los Angeles, at age 59.