Peter Tewksbury


Director

Biography

Although Peter Tewksbury is best known as Vermont's authority on artisanal cheesemakers, as an author of a book on the subject, in his earlier years, he held a brief but equally memorable stint as a Hollywood film and TV director. Tewksbury, a former WWII army captain, began his career in radio in the late 1940s. When popular radio serials made the leap to TV, Tewksbury adapted to the ne...

Biography

Although Peter Tewksbury is best known as Vermont's authority on artisanal cheesemakers, as an author of a book on the subject, in his earlier years, he held a brief but equally memorable stint as a Hollywood film and TV director. Tewksbury, a former WWII army captain, began his career in radio in the late 1940s. When popular radio serials made the leap to TV, Tewksbury adapted to the new medium, making his directorial debut with the hit family sitcom "Father Knows Best." In 1960 he began working on the long-running Fred MacMurray-starring family sitcom "My Three Sons," writing, producing, and directing 37 episodes of the show in its early seasons. Despite the show's success, its stringent production schedule proved too much for Tewksbury and, after working on minor feature films and TV shows in the late 1960s and early '70s (including one of Elvis Presley's final films, "The Trouble With Girls"), the director retired from Hollywood in 1974. Late in his life, Tewksbury flourished as a farmer and artisan cheesemonger in the small bohemian town of Brattleboro, Vermont; he published a book on the subject, "The Cheeses of Vermont," before his death in 2003.

Life Events

Videos

Movie Clip

Sunday In New York (1964) -- (Movie Clip) Hello, Lover! Rod Taylor is on the train from Philadelphia, Jane Fonda is riding to Manhattan on the Metro North line and Cliff Robertson is landing his TWA jet at Idlewild, with the jaunty opening tune sung by Mel Torme, in Sunday In New York, 1964, directed by Peter Tewksbury.
Sunday In New York (1964) -- (Movie Clip) The Coat Matches The Pants Jane Fonda is Eileen, the lovelorn sister of a playboy pilot, rushing to find him in Central Park, when she has the cute meeting with journalist Mike (Rod Taylor) on a city bus, in Sunday In New York, 1964, also starring Cliff Robertson, from Norman Krasna's play and screenplay.
Doctor, You've Got To Be Kidding (1967) -- (Movie Clip) Open, Five Of You! Nutty 60's comic opening leading to three suitors (Bill Bixby, Dwayne Hickman, Dick Kallman) rushing pregnant Sandra Dee, and her mother Celeste Holm, to the hospital, in Doctor, You've Got To Be Kidding, 1967.
Doctor, You've Got To Be Kidding (1967) -- (Movie Clip) Take This Memo Nichelle Nichols (Lieutenant Uhura!) is the first to help Heather (Sandra Dee) as she applies for a job with hot-shot executive Wycliff (George Hamilton), making his first appearance in Doctor, You've Got To Be Kidding, 1967.
Doctor, You've Got To Be Kidding (1967) -- (Movie Clip) Strong Little Girl Heather grows up to be (Sandra Dee), first with stage-mother Louise (Celeste Holm) in the elevator she operates, then narrating her college career, then neighbor Dick (Bill Bixby) dropping by, in Doctor, You've Got To Be Kidding, 1967.
Sunday In New York (1964) -- (Movie Clip) Tempus Is Fugiting! Jane Fonda has not quite been identified but we soon learn that she is Eileen, the unexpected kid sister of playboy pilot Adam (Cliff Robertson), in his Manhattan pad on a layover planning to hook up with a girlfriend, early in Sunday In New York, 1964.
Trouble With Girls, The (1969) -- (Movie Clip) Clean Up Your Own Back Yard This tune by Mac Davis and Billy Strange was a minor hit for Elvis Presley, and made an opportunity for an apparently restless camera crew and editor to mix things up, in the 1920's Elvis period musical The Trouble With Girls, 1969.
Trouble With Girls, The (1969) -- (Movie Clip) Swing Down Sweet Chariot Briefly consulting his boss Edward Andrews, 1920's traveling show manager Elvis Presley steps into a gospel-singing void, with a tune credited to the ex-slave and Choctaw freedman Wallace Willis, in The Trouble With Girls, 1969.
Trouble With Girls, The (1969) -- (Movie Clip) Mr. Morality Vincent Price is introduced here as a featured player in Elvis Presley's Chautauqua circuit traveling show, in 1927 Iowa, in the second-to-last Elvis feature, The Trouble With Girls, 1969.

Bibliography