by Jeff Rovin, TV Babylon, Signet, New York, 1984, pp. 60-62
With a slight stretch of the imagination, the fate of some suicide victims, such as Brenda Benet, can be regarded as a happy ending. Not so the demise of Peter Duel. He wasn't a lost and saddened figure like Brenda, didn't have Nick Adams's bad luck, or Inger Stevens's fatal sense of isolation. He was simply a young man full of high ambition. Like so many actors before him, Duel's plan had always been to suffer through the TV pap [lacking in substance] in order to make a name for ... Read More
Category: 1972 and Later
November 29, 2019Laura
by Roma Wheaton; Forever Young (book), date unknown
Success came easily to Peter Deuel (he later dropped the first e in his surname to avoid confusion), a dark-haired, handsome young man with an engaging personality. In the mid sixties, he could be found in nearly every successful American television series.
For a short time, he even had his own sitcom, Love on a Rooftop. He cared passionately about every aspect of his life, his work and the quality of it, the world we live in and the way we abuse it. An ardent campaigner for political rights, he was a perfectionist, always ... Read More
November 29, 2019Laura
Teen Life, January 1972
Pete Duel grew up in the small town of Penfield, New York, a suburb of Rochester. His dad was the town's only doctor and his mother was the nurse. Pete's whole family tree was filled with doctors, but he never really considered the medical profession himself. The one thing he wanted to do from the time he was two years old was become an airplane pilot.
A MEMORABLE EVENT
During Pete's early boyhood days, his dad introduced him to the wonders of the outdoors. Since Penfield was a rural town, there were plenty of woods and fields around for ... Read More
October 28, 2019Laura
by Judith Evans, 1999
There would have been
this gentle arc of the spirit,
like a gossamer winged creature,
that would have sprung from my heart
and plunged headlong
into the liquid, lustrous pools
of those chestnut eyes;
And your spirit would have
leapt in entrechant and,
blowing kisses as it crossed
the path of my own,
arms spread wide—
A swan dive—and then
hands coming together
as it sliced cleanly,
as hope does,
into the clear, blue ocean
of my eyes;
And we would have resided there,
the way salmon never return
to the sea when once
they leave its waters,
And we would have been
forever safe and joyous
in each other’s hearts.
And you would be here today.
And I would be ... Read More
August 2, 2019Laura
A UK magazine (source unknown), 1972
Universal Studios, where the Alias Smith and Jones series was filmed, carries on as usual. You might think that, in all that hustle and bustle, one actor could easily be forgotten ... but not Pete Duel.
Pete was a very special person. Everyone who knew him is agreed on that. But I don’t need to tell you that, because you know from first-hand experience. You may only have seen him on a TV screen, but enough of his unique personality comes through for you to know the sort of guy he must have been in real ... Read More
September 18, 2018Laura
Life Just Wasn't Worth Living
Modern Screen's Hollywood Yearbook, 1973
He was young (31), good looking, the star of a successful TV series (Alias Smith and Jones) and had a best gal. He had everything, in fact, except peace of mind. And the prospect of facing 1972 was simply too much for him. So, on December 31, Pete Duel picked up a gun, went into the living room, and shot himself through the head. When his girlfriend, Dianne Ray, rushed into the living room, she found Peter slumped on the floor near a brightly lit Christmas tree.
Many reasons have been given ... Read More
July 9, 2018Laura
The Box Magazine, 1997; No 46 Pete Duel
The James Dean of television. After six years of bit parts in series like The Virginian and Marcus Welby, M.D., Duel finally made it big as poker-faced gambling Hannibal Heyes in Alias Smith and Jones. But before the first series had finished running, he had been found shot. Officially it was suicide. It was also a tragic waste; he was 31.
January 30, 2018Laura