Full Name | Peter Breck |
Net Worth | $11 Million |
Date Of Birth | March 13, 1929 |
Died | February 6, 2012, Vancouver, Canada |
Place Of Birth | Haverhill, Massachusetts, USA |
Height | 1.88 m |
Profession | Actor |
Education | University of Houston |
Spouse | Diana Bourne |
Children | Christopher Breck |
Parents | Joseph Breck, Doris Goings Breck |
Siblings | Georgie Breck, Virginia Weber, Judith Weber |
Nicknames | Joseph Peter Breck, Peter Breck, Breck, Joseph Peter |
IMDB | http://imdb.com/name/nm0106539 |
Movies | Shock Corridor, Thunder Road, The Beatniks, Benji, The Crawling Hand, Lad: A Dog, Terminal City Ricochet, The Unnamable II: The Statement of Randolph Carter, Portrait of a Mobster, Highway 61, I Still Dream of Jeannie, Hootenanny Hoot, The Glory Guys, Sworn to Vengeance, Red Nightmare, The Wild and ... |
TV Shows | The Big Valley, Black Saddle, The Secret Empire |
Star Sign | Pisces |
# | Quote |
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1 | [o the disappearance of television westerns] I think they've just forgotten how to make them. Everybody is so anti-violence these days. |
2 | [on the demise of TV western series, 1998] I think they've just forgotten how to make them. Everybody is so anti-violence these days. |
3 | [Of Barbara Stanwyck]: Barbara Stanwyck was certainly an advocate of this lifestyle. You will recall, as I do, that she did Cattle Queen of Montana (1954) and many more westerns in her earlier career. She loved horses. She knew how to ride without making a big deal out of it and was at home on the set with all of the western paraphernalia around her. She was a classy lady and never forgot that she was representing the women of the west and their struggles. I was totally captured by Barbara's work in every scene that I had with her and I learned. |
4 | [on his on- and off-screen chemistry with Barbara Stanwyck, who played Victoria Barkley]: I'd get chills, she would look at me with those eyes and our characters had a bond. Barbara was a tiger. |
5 | I do miss the old Hollywood. I'm not too happy with what's there now. I did Jiminy Glick in Lalawood (2004) - they gave me the role of the head of the studio - and it was just a rush job. Everything's too fast now and you can't go bang-bang-bang and get a performance. They don't make good movies anymore. |
6 | [When his and Lee Majors's characters encounter a rabid beast ready to pounce on another livestock]: It was a timber wolf. They threw him off a rock and on to me and doubled the close-up with a German shepherd. We would rehearse it and the gaffers would get up there with him and throw him at me. The paws were going every which way. |
7 | [on remembering a scene with Martin Landau, who guest-starred on The Big Valley (1965)]: I was dragged. Martin Landau was shooting over a rock and as I rode up, an explosion went off, I was over my mark, and Boom! The horse went on the wildest eleven seconds I ever had. At one point, I looked up and got it right in the bottom of my chin. |
8 | I love doing theatre - any kind of theatre - anywhere. Some theatre was carnival or small town circus. I have never not worked. I never went hungry. As long as there were restaurants available, I would eat. Of course, I worked in those restaurants. I wouldn't want to do it again but if it has to be done, you do it! |
# | Fact |
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1 | According to Wildest Westerns Magazine, Peter Breck was able to draw his gun in 16/100 of a second, making the character of Nick Barkley the fastest draw in television history. |
2 | Actor James Drury reported that Peter had a photographic memory. And that Peter only had to go over the script a couple of times before he had the entire thing memorized. |
3 | Son of a traveling jazz musician. He was raised by his grandparents in Haverhill, Massachusetts. He served in the United States Navy. After his naval services, he studied drama and English at the University of Houston in Houston, Texas where he performed in theater productions at the Alley Theater in Houston, Texas before moving to the Arena Theater in Washington D.C. where Robert Mitchum saw him in George Bernard Shaw's play, "Man of Destiny," and offered him a small role in his next film, "Thunder Road.". |
4 | After moving to Vancouver, Breck was asked by a casting director if he would consider teaching young actors about the film technique, one class a week. The class grew and he would eventually found The Breck Academy, an acting school which he was operating. |
5 | For the last ten years of his life he suffered from dementia. On January 10, 2012 he went into the hospital and passed very peacefully on February 6. |
6 | Best known for his starring role as Nick Barkley on The Big Valley (1965). |
7 | He wrote a column for Wildest Westerns magazine. |
8 | His parents divorced and remarried when he was quite young. Had a younger half-brother, Georgie, who died at age 24 of heart problems, from his father's remarriage, and two sisters, Judith and Virginia, from his mother's remarriage. |
9 | Stepfather was Al Weber, who was the sports editor of the Rochester - Times Union in Rochester, New York. |
10 | Served in the Navy, and on the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt. |
11 | A club singer in Houston, Texas back in the early days, he put together a CD entitled "Just Kickin' Back with Peter Breck." It is all original tunes. |
12 | He moved to Vancouver, Canada in the mid-eighties with his wife, Diana and their son, Christopher (born in 1962). Christopher died of acute myeloid in his twenties, after fighting the disease for two years. |
Title | Year | Status | Character |
---|
Jiminy Glick in Lalawood | 2004 | | Tibor |
John Doe | 2002 | TV Series | William Leverton |
Enemy Action | 1999 | | Gen. Turner |
The New Batman Adventures | 1998 | TV Series | Farmer Brown / Enoch Brown / Goat |
L.A. Heat | 1997 | TV Series | Wayne Berry / Captain Crimestopper |
Lulu | 1996/I | | |
The Outer Limits | 1996 | TV Series | Kendal's Father |
Decoy | 1995 | | Wellington |
Sworn to Vengeance | 1993 | TV Movie | Chief Kelly |
The Unnamable II: The Statement of Randolph Carter | 1992 | | Sheriff Hatch |
Yes Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus | 1991 | TV Movie | Chambers |
I Still Dream of Jeannie | 1991 | TV Movie | Sahm-Ir |
Highway 61 | 1991 | | Mr. Watson |
Terminal City Ricochet | 1990 | | Ross Glimore |
The Fall Guy | 1981-1985 | TV Series | Reggie Marinak / Nick Barkley / Sheriff Owens |
Masquerade | 1983 | TV Series | Senator Weyburn |
Fantasy Island | 1979-1982 | TV Series | Colonel / Casey West |
The Sword and the Sorcerer | 1982 | | King Leonidas |
The Dukes of Hazzard | 1981 | TV Series | J.J. Sunday |
The Incredible Hulk | 1980 | TV Series | Hull |
The Secret Empire | 1979 | TV Series | Jesse Keller |
Vega$ | 1978 | TV Series | Walter Melford |
Black Beauty | 1978 | TV Mini-Series | Dr. Halverson |
The Six Million Dollar Man | 1977 | TV Series | Silver Cloud |
S.W.A.T. | 1975 | TV Series | Marco |
Benji | 1974 | | Dr. Chapman |
McMillan & Wife | 1974 | TV Series | George Noland |
Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law | 1973 | TV Series | Mike Palmer |
Mission: Impossible | 1972 | TV Series | Harry Cordel |
A Man for Hanging | 1972 | TV Movie | Avery Porter |
Alias Smith and Jones | 1971 | TV Series | Chuck Morgan |
The Virginian | 1964-1970 | TV Series | Lafe Harkness / Jess Carver |
The Big Valley | 1965-1969 | TV Series | Nick Barkley |
The Glory Guys | 1965 | | Lt. Bunny Hodges |
Kraft Suspense Theatre | 1965 | TV Series | Wiley Bondesen |
Perry Mason | 1963-1965 | TV Series | Peter Warren / William Sherwood / Clay Elliot |
Branded | 1965 | TV Series | Crispo |
Bonanza | 1964 | TV Series | Ward Bannister |
Mr. Novak | 1963 | TV Series | Dr. Ted Dietrich |
The Outer Limits | 1963 | TV Series | Sen. Orville |
Shock Corridor | 1963 | | Johnny Barrett |
The Crawling Hand | 1963 | | Steve Curan |
Hootenanny Hoot | 1963 | | Ted Grover |
Gunsmoke | 1958-1963 | TV Series | Jubal / Fly Hoyt |
General Hospital | 1963 | TV Series | The Magus / Masters (1982) |
Red Nightmare | 1962 | Short | Russian Officer |
77 Sunset Strip | 1958-1962 | TV Series | Claude 'Opie' Price / Mark Wade / Tim Winslow / ... |
Cheyenne | 1961-1962 | TV Series | Tony Chance / Sheriff Matt Kilgore / James Abbot |
The Gallant Men | 1962 | TV Series | Pvt. Draper |
Lawman | 1958-1962 | TV Series | Pete Bole / Hale Connors / First Ranchhand |
Lad: A Dog | 1962 | | Stephen Tremayne |
Surfside 6 | 1961-1962 | TV Series | Harry Sturgis / Mark Goodwin |
Maverick | 1960-1962 | TV Series | Doc Holliday / Sheriff Dan Trevor |
Hawaiian Eye | 1960-1962 | TV Series | Ray Martins / Johnny Arnold / Lou Norris |
The Roaring 20's | 1961 | TV Series | Benny Lester / Buddy Benedict / Joe Peabody |
Portrait of a Mobster | 1961 | | Frank Brennan |
Bronco | 1958-1961 | TV Series | Theodore Roosevelt / Jim Brandt |
The Beatniks | 1960 | | Mooney |
Sugarfoot | 1960 | TV Series | Theodore Roosevelt / Lt. John Stickney |
Black Saddle | 1959-1960 | TV Series | Clay Culhane |
Sea Hunt | 1959 | TV Series | Joe Gordon |
The Wild and the Innocent | 1959 | | Chip |
Zane Grey Theater | 1958-1959 | TV Series | Roy Bancroft / Marshal / Sundance Kid - Harry Longabaugh |
The Restless Gun | 1958 | TV Series | Brett Dixon |
I Want to Live! | 1958 | | Ben Miranda (uncredited) |
Wagon Train | 1958 | TV Series | Alf Meadows |
Have Gun - Will Travel | 1958 | TV Series | Kurt Sprague / Frank Weaver |
Highway Patrol | 1958 | TV Series | Whitey Sims |
Tombstone Territory | 1958 | TV Series | Sam Dixon |
Thunder Road | 1958 | | Stacey Gouge (uncredited) |
The Court of Last Resort | 1958 | TV Series | Deputy Bart Styles |
The Gray Ghost | 1957 | TV Series | Dooley |
The Sheriff of Cochise | 1956 | TV Series | Doyle Ranker |