PETER BROWN

peter brown- actor- born october 5th, 1938. Hair: Dark brown Eyes: Hazel Height: 6 ft.

Peter was born in New York as Pierre de Lappe, the second of four brothers, Philip, Pierre [Peter], Michael and Paul. He took the name Brown from his stepfather Albert "Bud" Brown. (His biological father died when he was four.) Peter's first model in show business was his mother, Mina Reaume, a radio and stage actress. Between the ages of seven and nine, he appeared on children's radio shows, playing small parts as elves, fairies, etc. His family relocated to the West coast, where he spent a significant portion of his youth involved in sports including horseback riding.


Peter became involved in acting as an adult while stationed in Alaska with the Second Infantry Division from. USO shows were infrequent so Peter organized a drama group which put on a couple of dozen shows during his stay. Peter performed as an actor in all of the plays and directed some of them.

After his discharge from the army, Peter enrolled in a summer session as a drama student at UCLA. He planned to enter an Eastern drama school but was advised by a teacher that he had the talent, the looks and the drive to warrant staying on in Los Angeles for at least a year to try his luck in films.

While pursuing acting work, Peter got a night job at a gas station on the Sunset Strip. He had a polite but enthusiastic spiel he used on anyone who might have a movie or TV connection. One evening Jack Warner came in for gas. According to Peter, when he saw the credit card with the name Jack L. Warner, he asked him, "Are you one of the Warner brothers?" He responded, "I'm the only one left." Whatever pitch Peter made to him apparently worked. Solly Baiano, the head of new talent at Warner Bros. called Peter at the gas station the next day and said, "I don't know who you know, but I have orders to give you a screen test."


Peter was signed as a Warner's contract player on the strength of the test and shortly thereafter landed a very nice role in the Warner Bros. film Darby's Rangers (1958). However, according to Peter he actually got his SAG card (Screen Actors Guild) in the 1957 Warner Bros/Jack Webb/Defense Dept. propaganda film Red Nightmare (a cult favorite under the title The Commies Are Coming, The Commies Are Coming). Peter made multiple appearances in several of the Warner's TV Westerns. A part as a sailor in the 1958 film Onionhead impressed producer Jules Schermer. The part was cut out of the movie. However, when Schermer was given his pick of young contract players for the youthful Deputy Johnny McKay in Lawman, Peter got the job. Lawman debuted on Peter's birthday on October 5, 1958 and ran for four seasons.

Warners squeezed everything it could out of its actors -- personal appearances [for which Warners reportedly took half the recompense] , recordings [for Warners only], photo dates with [Warners] starlets, etc. Peter as the youngest and most attractive of the Warners western stars had a special appeal to young females from preteens on up. He made personal appearances all over the country and received a goodly amount of fan mail. In her autobiography, Ann-Margret, who dated Peter when she first came to Hollywood, said that one of the things she always remembered and admired about him was how wonderful he was to his fans. [Ann-Margret also credited Peter with giving her her "first introduction to the glitter and hoopla of Hollywood" by taking her to Hollywood parties and premieres. Later, it was Peter who introduced her to Roger Smith, the man who was later to become her husband in one of the most successful marriages in Hollywood.] Peter did not join other Warners stars such as Clint Walker, Edd Byrnes, James Garner and Wayde Preston who staged job actions of various kinds, although anyone familiar with the treatment Warners accorded its stars would not have blamed him had he done so.



and of course who could forget peter brown in Summer Magic, a lightweight, light-hearted vehicle for Disney star Hayley Mills. Based on Mother Carey's Chickens, a novel by the author of Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, the slight story was fleshed out with musical numbers, although it was not a musical per se. In her previous movie, In Search of the Castaways, Hayley got her first on-screen kiss from Michael Anderson Jr. In Summer Magic Hayley has a hint of adult romance when toward the end of the movie, Peter Brown enters as an unexpected Prince Charming.



peter brown- oui magazine- circa 1974