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.
I had a life sized poster of Pete in my bedroom on the wall, strategically placed so that when I came into my room from school, he would always be there to greet me with that beautiful smile. I fell in love, quite simply with a person I thought I knew, through his acting. somehow the depth of Pete shone out of him in every role. I have watched his performances in lots of roles and how brilliant he was in his craft, so sad he left us. I think the most magnetic part of Pete was his eyes and how they looked at you, or at least I wish he’d looked at me that way. From all I have read and all that I have seen, he seems to have been a truly lovely person.
I was 14 when Pete died. I’m now 58 and the pain and sadness are still very much with me,which is weird. How can a man I never met, never knew, affect me on such a deeply personal level? They say teenagers are very impressionable but this connection goes far beyond the fantasies of a teenage girl, for Pete is the place I go to when I’m feeling low and a bit lost. At various stages in my life I’ve dreamt about him, completely out of the blue and when I haven’t thought about him for a long time, he invades my very soul. These dreams are not the usual mix of weirdness and confusions that most dreams are, but very clear and simple and so real that I always wake up with a very intense memory of them, and in all these dreams only one thing happens – I’m holding Pete and he’s holding me – heart to heart – and I can clearly feel the warmth of his body and the gentleness and strength of his arms around me and I’m holding on to him as tightly as I can trying to get through to him how much he is loved. I’m sure Freud would have a field day with this, but I no longer question it but accept it gratefully when it happens. Last night was one of those times and is what lead me to this site, so thank you Laura for enabling all of us to fill ourselves up with the sight and sound of this beautiful man.
Pete Duel was such a fine actor and obviously a deeply caring man who was easily hurt by the rejection that is so common in the entertainment industry, even for successful professionals such as he. His death was a real tragedy and a loss felt by millions of fans who cared about him. I hope that he has found peace in whatever comes after this life, if anything. As I watch Alias Smith & Jones again, I often get a chill in episodes where death is mentioned by or about his character, Hannibal Heyes, alias Joshua Smith. I miss you, Pete.
I still cannot listen to “An Old Fashioned Love Song” without thinking of Pete. He was awesome and my hero when I was 14 years old. I cried when he died. A lot. And I still think of him with a melancholy that I cannot quite define. It would have been wonderful — indeed — to see how his career would have progressed had he lived. I wish someone would have realized that he needed help. I wish he would have realized how much we loved him. Maybe things would have been different. Still adore you after all these years, Pete. Always will.
it is so strange Pete thought he had not made it, I thought he had! He was such a good actor, guest on so many shows and starred in several. if only he knew how so many years later we would still be here for him. No telling how much he could have done over the years! I just watched him on Gidget this morning, nice memories, I wish there were many years more1