by Sue Cameron; TV Radio Mirror, April 1972 Word along the party circuit keeps cropping up about the late Pete Duel, who was a favorite among the Hollywood young set. Although no one will confirm anything, the story going around that won't die is that Pete was living with a well-known actress while her equally well-known husband was working in a movie in Europe. Supposedly, two weeks before Pete shot himself, the husband returned and Pete moved home. When word of Pete's alleged suicide reached the airwaves, there were a few people who thought that the husband might have found out and ... Read More

by Liz Dagucon; Tiger Beat Spectacular, April 1972 Everyone was saddened about the shocking news of Pete Duel's death. Hundreds of letters flooded into the office asking if it was true. How I wish the answer was that Pete is alive, well, and happy! But the truth is — on December 31, 1971, Pete died. Your letters asking why a handsome, talented, and successful young actor should choose death over life can never be completely answered. One fact that is absolutely positive is that Pete's family, friends, and fans will miss him very, very much. I interviewed Pete once. The afternoon of the ... Read More

Rona Barrett's Hollywood, April 1972 It could never have made it as a story on Alias Smith and Jones. The plot was too bizarre and there was nothing funny to soften the grisly horror. Prominent Hollywood actor Pete Duel, only 31-years-old, but apparently despondent over a drinking problem he couldn't solve, watched a segment of his TV series with his girlfriend Dianne Ray the night before New Year's Eve. The program depressed him even more, and the basketball game they watched together later didn't cheer him up. Dianne, who had spent the evening in what she thought was comfortable companionship with Pete, ... Read More

Films Illustrated, March 1972 "It takes much more than a handsome face to make it big in films and television today. You just have to look at people like Dustin Hoffman, Elliott Gould, and Donald Sutherland to realise that is true. I don't mean that it is the Age of the Ugly, but audiences have come to expect many dimensions in an actor, rather than a singular ability. The reality achieved from an ordinary, not-so-handsome actor who has substantial talent and who can play both heavy drama and light comedy is what audiences appreciate today." When Pete Duel said that, he ... Read More

by Funky Duke Lewis; Tiger Beat, March 1972 On the other hand, Pete Duel, the Joshua Smith of Alias Smith & Jones, voiced a more general sentiment of actors in long-lived TV shows. "This series, that series, is a big fat drag to an actor who I any interest in his work," Pete said. "It's the ultimate trap. You lose any artistic thing you had, utterly destructive. It isn't the work that tires you, it's that it's a dreadful bore that makes you weary, weary. "Our show is good and I don't blame its writers and directors, what's wrong is the whole system. ... Read More

Rona Barrett's Hollywood, March 1973 Ben Murphy wasn't exactly bowled over by the cancellation of Alias Smith & Jones. According to Ben, doing a series is "... a killing 12-hour work day, five days a week. And I believe it helped to kill Pete Duel. He worried too much to cope with the punishing routine. And he drank too much through all that worry. Then he died so tragically. He was too young for that."

Superstar, February 1973 The Old West of Alias Smith & Jones was full of legends: Kid Curry, Hannibal Hayes, Jesse James, and Billy the Kid. They were all real people who became even greater after their death because of the greatness of their deeds. And they have survived as heroes even today. Much the same thing is happening to Pete Duel, and if anything, for better reasons! In this last, sad year following his tragic death, we might have expected to see the thousands of fans who liked Alias Smith & Jones and admired — perhaps even worshipped — Peter to find ... Read More

by Will Tusher; Motion Picture magazine, April 1972 ...Now it can be told (although to what avail?): When Peter Duel went down as an apparent suicide because he was depressed over his drinking, last attended Roy Cumming's D'Antan Cinematheque in West Hollywood, it was to boost an ecology documentary he'd narrated for free. It was a cocktail screening and Pete was there with Dianne Ray. Bartender and others kept plying him with drinks and he kept imbibling — Ginger Ale...

SPEC 16 Magazine, April 1972 In the middle of the night — 1:30 a.m., December 31, to be precise — Pete Duel, by his own hand, ended his life. To the millions of fans and friends who not only regularly saw Pete in his exciting and happy-go-lucky portrayal of "Hannibal Heyes" in Alias Smith & Jones each Thursday night, but who had also followed his ever-growing career as an actor-starting way back in his ABC Love On A Rooftop days, the news of Pete's death was a stunning blow. It seemed incredible, unbelievable that this talented and attractive young man could ... Read More

Daily Express, early January 1972 The television cowboy Pete Duel was dead under a Christmas tree when police found him. He had a single bullet wound in his head. The co-star of the light-hearted Western TV series Alias Smith and Jones was 31. Now police are trying to piece together the hours that led up to the actor's death early on New Year's Eve [Day]. They were called by Duel's girlfriend, 29-year-old Dianne Ray, who said she went to his Hollywood home to see the latest episode of Alias Smith and Jones. She told them that after Duel had watched a ... Read More

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 ... Read More