16 Magazine, January 1972
Unlike most actors’ roles, “Joshua Smith”—the character Pete Duel portrays on TV—is not that different from the real-life guy who plays him. Pete, in real life, also loves the excitement of the old west. He enjoys the wilderness, the comfort of wearing old jeans, and cowboy boots.
And like Joshua Smith, Pete Duel has an eye for the girls! His dimples, his warm, brown eyes, his sexy smile, attract girls like honey lures bees! The only trouble with his “honey” is that he’s not sweet all the time! Pete Duel loves like he lives—independently, and free, and slightly ... Read More
Category: News Archive
December 25, 2021Laura
They’re Different As Night and Day—But Still Friends!
by Susan Rogers; Screen Life, January 1972
It’s been said that one of the reasons for the great popularity of ABC-TV’s Alias Smith and Jones is the striking contrast between the two leading men, Ben Murphy and Peter Duel. Alias is a Western series about two young outlaws who are seeking amnesty from their criminal past in order to have a fighting chance at a future.
Pete plays Hannibal Heyes, also known as Joshua Smith, and Ben plays Jed “Kid” Curry, alias Thaddeus Jones. The series, which deals with good and evil—with lots of comedy ... Read More
December 6, 2021Laura
by Tex Maddox; Movie Life, June 1967
"Does he dare enough? That's the sure way to test any fellow! Add up all he tackles, how he proceeds, to discover what he is. Mere claims mean little compared to this measure of a man.
"In my case, the jury's debating. But I'm not afraid of the verdict. Why shouldn't I make my own decisions on how I want to live? Who knows better about where I'd rather wind up, or when I'll be ready to marry?"
"Of course," Peter Deuel confesses promptly, "I've often been accused of being too much of a rebel. But ... Read More
June 17, 2021Laura
by Douglas Snauffer; Epi-log Journal, Spring 1994
Over the years, Larson has truly experienced the best and worst of his profession. The best things, he said, are the simple things. “I’m doing something I love. I’m creating. The first time someone answered the phone on the set and said, Battlestar Galactica—it was such a rush. It sent a chill up my back.”
But there is the other end of the spectrum, and the worst times can be devastating. Twice, Larson has had to deal with the deaths of the leading men in his series.
One afternoon in the fall of 1984, actor Jon-Erik ... Read More
December 27, 2020Laura
by Brian Viner; The Independent
In December 1971, when I was 10 years old, an American actor called Pete Duel killed himself. To my friends and me, the news came as a horrible blow. Duel played the outlaw Hannibal Heyes, alias Joshua Smith, in our favorite TV show, Alias Smith and Jones.
Heyes and his partner Kid Curry, alias Thaddeus Jones, played by Ben Murphy, were icons in the Farnborough Road Junior School playground. They seemed to be able to cope, with unfailing good humor, with everything life threw at them. Yet Duel, it turned out, could not. On New Year’s Eve ... Read More
December 27, 2020Laura
as told to Marco Amedeo; Movieland and TV Time, February 1967
What makes one letter more appealing to a star than the next? This month Peter Deuel tells what catches his eye. "I can't skip being honest when I reply to a fan letter I particularly like," Peter points out. "If a person treats me with the sincerity I want, I respect it and respond as frankly. I've always felt I deserve the truth. I remember how I was sidetracked and disillusioned if I didn't get it, so I'm not going to inflict a lie on anyone who could be my ... Read More
June 16, 2020Laura
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, June 17, 1968
"I don't see why I can't function like anyone else, if I want to, as a political activist, or as an individual who is concerned about the way things are going." That is how Peter Deuel, a Penfield boy who made good on television and in Hollywood, expressed his views on actors in politics.
Resting below a large poster of Sen. Eugene McCarthy, D-Minn., on the walls of the 37th district McCarthy headquarters, 321 Genesee St., Deuel said, "Actors are people who just happen to go into acting and are as conscientious or unconscientious as ... Read More
February 22, 2020Laura