Who Are Those Guys? ~ Pete Duel

Peter Ellstrom Deuel was born on February 24, 1940, in Rochester, New York. Pete was the eldest of three children born to Dr. Ellsworth and Lillian Deuel (née Ellstrom). His brother Geoffrey Deuel [1943- ] was also an actor, best known for his role in “Chisum” (1970) and numerous episodic television appearances of the 1960s and 1970s; their sister's name was Pamela.

He attended Penfield High School, where he worked on the yearbook staff, campaigned for student government, and was a member of the National Thespians Society. He graduated in 1957 and attended St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York, where he majored in English. He preferred performing in the drama department's productions to studying for his classes during his two years there. When his father came to see him in The Rose Tattoo, he realized that his son was only wasting time and money at the university and told him to follow a career in acting.

Moving to New York City, Duel landed a role in a touring production of the comedy “Take Her, She's Mine”. To find work in the movies, Duel and his mother drove across the country to Hollywood, California, in 1963, with only a tent to house them each night.

In Hollywood, he found work in television, making small guest appearances in comedies such as ‘Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.’ and dramas such as ‘Channing’, ‘Combat!’, and ‘Bonanza’. In 1965, he was cast in the comedy series ‘Gidget’ as Gidget's brother-in-law, John Cooper; he appeared in 22 of the show's 32 episodes.

In 1970, Duel was cast as the outlaw Hannibal Heyes, alias Joshua Smith, opposite Ben Murphy's Kid Curry, in ‘Alias Smith and Jones’, a light-hearted Western about the exploits of two outlaws trying to earn their amnesty. During the hiatus between the first and second seasons, he starred in the television production of Percy MacKaye’s 1908 play “The Scarecrow”.

According to Quentin Tarantino, Duel was one of the inspirations for the character of Rick Dalton in the film “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”. In Tarantino's novelization of the movie, Duel and Dalton worked together, "enjoyed ... each other's company" and were both "undiagnosed bipolar."

In the early hours of Friday, New Years Eve 1971, Duel died at his Hollywood Hills home of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Duel's death was later ruled a suicide. He was only 31 years old.

DUEL, Pete (Peter Ellstrom Deuel) [2/24/1940, Rochester, New York, U.S.A. – 12/31/1971, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A. (suicide)] – film, TV actor, brother of actor Geoffrey Deuel (Geoffrey Jacob Deuel) [1943-    ], actress, singer Pamela Deuel-Hart [1944-    ].

Cannon for Cordoba – 1970 (Andy Rice)