Lecturas, January 14, 1972

At present the police have offered no comment. All that is known is that Pete Duel was found dead by the door of his house in the Hollywood Hills. Pete was covered in blood and next to him they found the gun which caused his death. Was it murder or suicide? In view of the fact that the gun was close by and there were no other footprints except his leads one to think that he intended to commit suicide.

But Pete had no apparent motive for wanting to die.

Duel, who was not yet thirty years old, had proved to be an accomplished actor in westerns. He started his TV career doing occasional roles in popular television series: Bonanza, The Virginian, Cimarron, Rawhide, etc. Later, he took the role of the famous gunman, Billy the Kid in the John Wayne film Chisum, which lead to the producers calling for him with ever increasing frequency.

Currently he was acting in a popular American western series and had a brilliant future ahead of him.

In the accompanying photograph the unfortunate actor is seen in one of his western roles as a hardened and adventurous outlaw. It is to be hoped that the Hollywood police discover and announce the cause of his death soon.

[Editor’s Note: Pete did not guest-star in Bonanza, Cimarron, or Rawhide. Neither was he in the movie, Chisum; Pete’s brother Geoff owns that credit.]