Daily Mirror, early January 1972

Girl sees TV star shoot himself.

Actor Pete Duel, star of the BBC 2 Western series Alias Smith and Jones, was found shot dead yesterday. Duel, a 31-year-old bachelor, who lived in Hollywood, played Hannibal Hayes, alias Smith, in the series.

Last night police were trying to determine if the shot was deliberate or accidental. Duel’s girlfriend, Dianne Ray, told police that he had been depressed recently. She said he had called her into a room in his Hollywood home and, as she ran in, he put a revolver to his head and pulled the trigger. Earlier in the evening, they had watched Alias Smith and Jones on TV.

Likeable.

A close friend and neighbour of Duel’s said yesterday: “He was a tremendously likeable fellow. He liked to go off camping in the mountains. He told me he hated the thought of having to work on New Year’s Eve.”

[Editor’s Note: According to the police report and subsequent interviews, Pete did not call Dianne into the room before he shot himself; he left the room she was in and she later heard the gunshot.]