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IMDbPro

Peter Breck(1929-2012)

  • Actor
IMDbProStarmeterTop 5,0008388
"Big Valley, The" Peter Breck 1965 ABC
Home Video Trailer from Paramount Home Entertainment
Play trailer0:40
Highway 61 (1991)
8 Videos
18 Photos
Breck was born Joseph Peter Breck, the son of a jazz musician also named Joseph (nicknamed "Jobie"). Over time, his father worked with such legendary greats as Fats Waller, Bix Beiderbecke, Paul Whiteman and Billie Holiday. Nicknamed "Buddy" while young, Peter's parents were on the road for much of his early life and he was sent to live with his grandparents in Haverhill, Massachusetts, a move that provided more stability.

His parents eventually divorced and young Peter returned to Rochester to live with his mother and her new husband, Al Weber, who was a sports editor of the Rochester Times-Union. Following his schooling at John Marshall High School in Rochester, Peter served in the United States Navy. 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, where he appeared in such productions as "Stalag 17", among others. He had a talent for singing and performed in several clubs in and around the Houston area.

Breck 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), which Mitchum himself produced, co-wrote and starred in. Mitchum invited the young tenderfoot to Los Angeles and helped set him up out there. While Breck struggled trying to establish himself in films (he played a juvenile delinquent in the movie The Beatniks (1960)), it seemed 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. Co-starring Russell Johnson (later the "Professor" on Gilligan's Island (1964)), who plays a suspicious U.S. Marshal, the series was canceled after two seasons.

A Warner Brothers studio contract, however, did come out of this-and a new visibility. Tall, dark and handsome at 6'2", Breck guest-starred on all the top Warner Bros. TV shows of the day: Sugarfoot (1957), Surfside 6 (1960), Bronco (1958), Hawaiian Eye (1959), 77 Sunset Strip (1958), Cheyenne (1955) 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).

He left Warners after only a few years but managed to score the leads in two low-budget cult thrillers in its wake: Shock Corridor (1963)_ and The Crawling Hand (1963), along with a very dismal lead in the musical outing Hootenanny Hoot (1963), in which he was given no songs to perform despite his singing capabilities. Again, TV came to the rescue when he won the brotherly co-lead on The Big Valley (1965). Despite a uniformly strong ensemble cast that included oldest brother Richard Long, younger brother Lee Majors and sister Linda Evans, Stanwyck was the only performer on the show who was nominated for an Emmy during its four-season run; she was nominated twice and won once.

Following this TV peak, Breck abruptly left Hollywood and focused on the theater both in the U.S. and Canada throughout the 1970s, 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, where Breck checked out the film scene. He also 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).

Breck decided to lay back following this traumatic period, but still manages to perform in films and TV from time to time. As he grew older, he joined the cast of some very offbeat "B" films: Terminal City Ricochet (1990) and and Highway 61 (1991). His more recent "B" movies included Decoy (1995), Enemy Action (1999) and Jiminy Glick in Lalawood (2004). He also wrote a western column and showed up occasionally at nostalgia conventions until he was diagnosed with dementia. He made his last film with a small role in the Martin Short vehicle Jiminy Glick in Lalawood (2004). Breck died on February 6, 2012, in Vancouver, Canada.
BornMarch 13, 1929
DiedFebruary 6, 2012(82)
BornMarch 13, 1929
DiedFebruary 6, 2012(82)
IMDbProStarmeterTop 5,0008388

Photos18

Peter Breck in Wagon Train (1957)
Richard Boone and Peter Breck in Have Gun - Will Travel (1957)
Lee Majors, Barbara Stanwyck, Linda Evans, Peter Breck, and Richard Long in The Big Valley (1965)
Peter Breck in Shock Corridor (1963)
Peter Breck in Shock Corridor (1963)
Alan Baxter and Peter Breck in The Outer Limits (1963)
Peter Breck and James Mitchum in Thunder Road (1958)
"Big Valley, The" Linda Evans, Lee Majors, Peter Breck 1965 ABC
"Big Valley, The" Lee Majors, Peter Breck 1965 ABC
Peter Breck, Rachel Romen, Marlene Manners, Barbara Perry, and Constance Towers in Shock Corridor (1963)
Lee Majors, Barbara Stanwyck, Linda Evans, Peter Breck, and Richard Long in The Big Valley (1965)
Peter Breck, Karen Kadler, and Tony Travis in The Beatniks (1960)

Known for

Shock Corridor (1963)
Shock Corridor
7.3
  • Johnny Barrett
  • 1963
Lee Majors, Barbara Stanwyck, Linda Evans, Peter Breck, and Richard Long in The Big Valley (1965)
The Big Valley
7.6
TV Series
  • Nick Barkley
Arline Judge, Rod Lauren, and Sirry Steffen in The Crawling Hand (1963)
The Crawling Hand
3.1
  • Steve Curan
  • 1963
The Sword and the Sorcerer (1982)
The Sword and the Sorcerer
5.4
  • King Leonidas
  • 1982

Credits

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IMDbPro

Actor

  • Bob Terry in The Forsaken Westerns (2017)
    The Forsaken Westerns
    • Cowboy
    • TV Series
    • 2017
  • Jiminy Glick in Lalawood (2004)
    Jiminy Glick in Lalawood
    • Tibor
    • 2004
  • Dominic Purcell in John Doe (2002)
    John Doe
    • William Leverton (uncredited)
    • TV Series
    • 2002
  • C. Thomas Howell and Lisa Thornhill in Enemy Action (1999)
    Enemy Action
    • Gen. Turner
    • 1999
  • Tara Strong, Kevin Conroy, Loren Lester, and Mathew Valencia in The New Batman Adventures (1997)
    The New Batman Adventures
    • Enoch Brown
    • Farmer Brown
    • Goat (voice)
    • TV Series
    • 1998
  • Sugar Ray Leonard, Dawn Eason, Wolf Larson, Renee Tenison, Kenneth Tigar, and Steven Williams in L.A. Heat (1996)
    L.A. Heat
    • Captain Crimestopper
    • Wayne Berry
    • TV Series
    • 1997
  • Lulu (1996)
    Lulu
    • 1996
  • The Outer Limits (1995)
    The Outer Limits
    • Kendal's Father
    • TV Series
    • 1996
  • Decoy (1995)
    Decoy
    • Wellington
    • 1995
  • Sworn to Vengeance (1993)
    Sworn to Vengeance
    • Chief Kelly
    • TV Movie
    • 1993
  • The Unnamable II: The Statement of Randolph Carter (1992)
    The Unnamable II: The Statement of Randolph Carter
    • Sheriff Hatch
    • 1992
  • Charles Bronson, Richard Thomas, and Katharine Isabelle in Yes Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus (1991)
    Yes Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus
    • Chambers
    • TV Movie
    • 1991
  • I Still Dream of Jeannie (1991)
    I Still Dream of Jeannie
    • Sahm-Ir
    • TV Movie
    • 1991
  • Highway 61 (1991)
    Highway 61
    • Mr. Watson
    • 1991
  • Terminal City Ricochet (1990)
    Terminal City Ricochet
    • Ross Glimore
    • 1990

Videos8

Trailer
Trailer 4:10
Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 1:40
Trailer
Official Trailer
Trailer 2:52
Official Trailer
Shock Corridor
Trailer 2:53
Shock Corridor
Highway 61
Trailer 0:40
Highway 61
The Big Valley: Season 2
Trailer 2:06
The Big Valley: Season 2
The Big Valley: Clip 1
Trailer 1:55
The Big Valley: Clip 1
The Big Valley: Clip 2
Trailer 1:47
The Big Valley: Clip 2

Personal details

Edit
  • Official site
    • Official Site
  • Alternative name
    • Peter & Diane
  • Height
    • 6′ 1½″ (1.87 m)
  • Born
    • March 13, 1929
    • Haverhill, Massachusetts, USA
  • Died
    • February 6, 2012
    • Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada(complications from advanced dementia)
  • Spouse
    • Diana BourneJune 11, 1960 - February 6, 2012 (his death, 1 child)
  • Parents
      Joseph Breck
  • Other works
    Unsold pilot: Co-starred with Mike Road in a pilot for a police adventure series called "Las Vegas File" about two cops, one a Las Vegas police officer and the other a rural county sheriff, who cooperate to solve Nevada crimes.

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    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.
  • Quotes
    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!
  • Nickname
    • Buddy

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