Peter Breck

Short Biography

Joseph Peter Breck was born on March 13, 1929 in Haverhill, Massachusetts.Peter stands 6’2”, and his childhood nickname was "Buddy".His career has spanned five decades and includes starring roles and appearances on television, the stage, and in numerous movies. His father was a jazz musician and Peter’s parents were on the road for much of his early life. Peter was sent to live with his grandparents until his parents divorced and young Peter returned to Rochester to live with his mother and her new husband.* side note - I live in Rochester, and have frequented some of the places Peter did during his life here.Following his schooling at John Marshall High School in Rochester, Peter served in the United States Navy aboard the USS Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He then turned his attention back to education and studied English and drama at the University of Houston in Houston. While performing in college plays, he started to apprentice at Houston's Alley Theatre. He also had a talent for singing and performed in several clubs around the Houston area.Peter extended his stage resume at Washington D.C.'s Arena Theatre. While performing there in a 1957 production of George Bernard Shaw's "The Man of Destiny", he was "discovered" by Robert Mitchum, who cast him in an unbilled role in the film Thunder Road (1958). Mitchum invited Peter to Los Angeles and helped set him up there.Peter struggled to establish himself in films like The Beatniks (1960) - Peter played a troubled young hoodlum, and although his billing listed him as a co-star, Peter's performance stole the title of "star" from Tony Travis.Peter and the powers that be soon discovered that rugged TV roles came easier to him. He found his first series lead as "Clay Culhane" in the western "Black Saddle" (1959), the story of a gunfighter (Breck) who switches guns for law books and tries to tame the West through reason. Costarring Russell Johnson (later the "Professor" on "Gilligan's Island" (1964) who plays a suspicious U.S. Marshal, and Anna Lisa (from Bonanza's The Savage). Although the series was canceled after a single season, Peter was signed to a Warner Brothers studio contract.Tall, dark and handsome, Peter guest-starred on all the top Warner Bros. TV shows of the day -- "The Roaring 20's" (1960), "Sugarfoot" (1957), "Surfside 6" (1960), "Bronco" (1958), "Hawaiian Eye" (1959), "77 Sunset Strip" (1958), "Cheyenne" (1955), Tombstone Territory, and played a recurring "Doc Holliday" in the popular series "Maverick" (1957).He returned to the movies as well, but this time in stronger leads or co-leads. Handed a choice co-starring assignment in Portrait of a Mobster (1961) opposite star Vic Morrow, who played the infamous "Dutch Schultz", Peter also managed to show a rare, gentler side in the outdoor family drama Lad: A Dog (1962).Peter left Warners after only a few years but managed to win the leads in two low-budget cult thrillers in its wake -- Shock Corridor (1963) and The Crawling Hand (1963).In 1964, Peter appeared in The Cheating Game on Bonanza.Peter won the role of Nick on "The Big Valley" (1965-1969), a show with a strong ensemble cast that included oldest brother Richard Long (Jarrod), youngest brother Lee Majors (Heath), sister Linda Evans (Audra), and Barbara Stanwyck as Victoria Barkley.After The Big Valley, Peter continued in movies and television.In 1981, Peter reunited with The Big Valley co-star Lee Majors in a guest starring role in Majors' television show, The Fall Guy.Peter abruptly left Hollywood in the 1970s and focused on the theater both in the U.S. and Canada, appearing in such showcase vehicles as "The Gazebo", "A Thousand Clowns", "The Rainmaker" and "Mister Roberts". Married to former dancer Diana Bourne since 1960, the couple settled in Vancouver, Canada, with their son Christopher. Peter set up a full-time acting academy school, The Breck Academy, which ran for ten years. Tragically, it was during this time that their son, Christopher, was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia and died (two years later).Though Peter continued to make several “B” movies, he made the decision to slow down after the loss of his son. On the side, he wrote a western column for Wildest Westerns magazine and showed up occasionally at nostalgia conventions.Peter recorded a CD entitled "Just Kickin' Back with Peter Breck." It is all original tunes.Peter and his wife have announced that he now suffers from dementia.This is Peter's book, A Family Album. I have been unable to find information on the year it was published.Peter passed away on February 6, 2012.