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The Story of His Life
The off-Broadway stage has spawned some extraordinary talent that major Hollywood studios have gratefully seized upon as prime star material. Among them was the intense, young Pete Duel, starring as Hannibal Heyes (alias Joshua Smith) in Universal Television’s Alias Smith & Jones, a western adventure told with humor.
Signed to a long-term contract at Universal on the strength of his performance in the studio’s The Hell With Heroes, Pete then worked in just about every TV series filmed at the studio as well as in The Young Country, a two-hour feature for television and Universal’s World Premiere: The Psychiatrist.
In 1969, Universal loaned Pete to Avco-Embassy to star opposite Kim Darby and David Janssen in Generation. In early 1970, he returned from Spain where he filmed Cannon for Cordoba with George Peppard.
On his arrival in Hollywood in the mid-1960s, he struck pay dirt almost immediately in semi-heavy roles. Pete’s first comedy was in his recurring role of the brother-in-law in the Gidget series. So impressed was producer William Sackheim with his gentle clowning that when Love on a Rooftop was being prepared, Sackheim insisted that only Pete Duel could play it — which meant writing him out of Gidget.
“I was fortunate,” said the young actor. “Love on a Rooftop gave me a chance to be wildly versatile. It’s all there, the whole gamut, in 30 or more episodes — slapstick, comedy, drama, the rough, the tender.”
Pete put aside boyhood dreams of becoming a pilot and enrolled at St. Lawrence University, Watertown, New York, with the determination to be what he thought his father wanted him to be: a doctor. His two years at St. Lawrence he termed “a disaster,” redeemed only by the elation he experienced on performing in every play staged by the drama department, of which he was not even a member.
He obtained his Actors Equity membership card by landing a small role in an off-Broadway production of Electra at the Players Theatre in Greenwich Village; he also served as assistant stage manager. His first television appearance was in a one-hour production of the Armstrong Theatre. His national tour of Take Her, She's Mine with Joanna Petit and Tom Ewell made him feel a member in good standing of the acting fraternity. He seriously weighed Broadway against Hollywood, and reached a decision in favor of the land of cavernous sound stages and palm trees. When the play closed in Washington, D.C., he returned to Penfield for a “free summer,” then began his assault on Hollywood.
For more about Pete's Hollywood
experience, see Filmography.
Pete lived modestly in Hollywood and never married. He was an omnivorous reader of political journals and the writings of contemporary thinkers. He was also an avid outdoorsman, enjoying fishing, hiking, and generally being out in the country, as well as exploring old mine and ghost towns that thrived over a century ago.
Photo of Pete's grave in Penfield, New York. He's buried to the left of the family head stone, under the red flowers in the photo.
He was an activist for the ecology, rescued stray dogs, and was easily demoralized by social injustice; “an idealist to the core,” said his co-star Ben Murphy. To learn more about how Pete felt about life, love, and the environment, read Pete's Poetry and a transcript of his ecology views (you'll also find links there to actually listen to Pete's poetry and his views about ecology in his own voice).
In the same year that he was involved in — and distraught over — a drunk-driving accident he caused, Pete Duel committed suicide by gunshot at approximately 1:25 a.m. on December 31, 1971. He was 31. More than 1,000 people attended his memorial in Los Angeles. He was buried in Penfield, New York (see just the Photo of Pete's Headstone).
Also read Why Paul Green's Book Hasn't Changed the Way I Feel About Pete by this site's creator, Laura
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The Pete Duel Memorial Site
