REMEMBERING PETE DUEL
Thank you to everyone who leaves such poignant and heartfelt expressions in The Memorial Book—and for all your kind words about this site. Your kinship is extremely appreciated. —Laura
Please post your thoughts below. The previous Memorial Book was receiving too much spam, so I had to close it and start this page instead. The previous memorial page also had hundreds of remembrances. I hope to someday transfer them here.
There may be a delay between when you leave your thoughts below and when your post appears, but rest assured, the post will eventually be published. Please keep in mind that many questions still remain about Peter’s state of mind in those final days of his life. One recent question is how much of a role the anti-seizure drug, Dilantin, played on his thoughts. Perhaps Pete was a victim of a pharmaceutical drug and not so much of self-inflicted depression. Also note that Geoffrey Deuel sometimes visited this page. Thank you.
Pete, my first Love…how I cried over you.
I Think your father was Swedish btw
Love from Madeleine in Sweden
So, back in the 1990s, I ran across Alias Smith and Jones via the fannish samizdat VHS network. “This is delightful!” I said, and “oh my goodness, who is the dark haired one? He’s amazing! Why have I not seen him in a zillion other things?” And then I found out why. My friend stated a webpage, and we did a Snarkathon of most of the episodes (we were utterly giddy — I recently looked at the page for the first time in a very long while and our joy was apparent). And I wrote reams of fanfic, trying to complicate the show and give Pete the role he really deserved.
. . . and hadn’t thought about it or him in a long time, until I ran across the DVDs in a going-out-of-business video store, and then found some old zines with my fanfic, and thought about what a waste it was. I know it’s dengerous to diagnose someone based on hearsay, but having been close to a number of people who are bipolar (including the person I’m married to), I’m thinking I have a pretty good guess as to what was going on with Pete. He was an amazing talent who could have gone on to do wonderful things, and I wish we’d been lucky enough to get those things. As it is, he elevated ASJ into something that still holds up. I’m so glad you’re carrying on his memory!
None of my family or friends understand my admiration and love for Pete Duel after all these years. I’m 59 now and loved Pete back in the days of Giget, Love on a Rooftop, and of course Alias Smith & Jones. It warms my heart to read all the beautiful and loving thoughts from his fans here. What a beautiful man he was who touched so many souls.
I understand why you would do that.
Every year since Pete’s death, though he passed away at 1:30 a.m., I have a two-minute silence for Pete at 5 till midnight on December 31st whilst holding a photograph of him. My family doesn’t understand why I do this, but somewhere in my soul is the answer. You will forever be missed by me and many others. Lots of love.
Libe xxxx