Peter Breck


Actor

About

Birth Place
Haverhill, Massachusetts, USA
Born
March 13, 1929
Died
February 06, 2012
Cause of Death
Undetermined

Biography

Peter Breck got his first taste of acting while attending the University of Houston, in Texas. He began working at the Alley Theatre there, gaining experience by performing in a variety of productions. Before long, on the strength of his performances, he was invited to join the renowned Washington Arena Stage theater company. After his performance in George Bernard Shaw's "The Man of Des...

Biography

Peter Breck got his first taste of acting while attending the University of Houston, in Texas. He began working at the Alley Theatre there, gaining experience by performing in a variety of productions. Before long, on the strength of his performances, he was invited to join the renowned Washington Arena Stage theater company. After his performance in George Bernard Shaw's "The Man of Destiny," actor Robert Mitchum went back stage and asked Breck, "Do you want to make a movie?" He had already made several small television appearances, but his role as a moonshiner, Stacey Gouge, in Mitchum's 1958 crime thriller, "Thunder Road," had a major impact on his career. Following the film, he relocated to Los Angeles; Mitchum supported his move, even lending him a Jaguar to drive. In 1959, he landed the lead role as Clay Culhane, a retired gunfighter who becomes a lawyer, in the Western series "Black Saddle." Following that series conclusion a year later, Breck signed a contract with Warner Brothers, becoming a contract player for them. In 1965, he took on his best known role as Nick Barkley, the bad-tempered son of Barbara Stanwyck's character, in the popular Western series "The Big Valley." Following its conclusion in 1969, he began making guest-star appearances in all of Warner's series. If you watched television in the 1970s and '80s, he was hard to miss. He appeared in episodes of "The Six Million Dollar Man," "The Dukes of Hazzard," and "The Fall Guy," to name only a few.

Life Events

Videos

Movie Clip

Shock Corridor (1963) -- (Movie Clip) Formal Complaint Aiming to go under-cover in the mental hospital, reporter Johnny (Peter Breck), with girlfriend Cathy (Constance Towers) posing as his sister, works to trick Dr. Menkin (Paul Dubov) into committing him, in writer-director (and ex-newsman) Sam Fuller's Shock Corridor, 1963.
Shock Corridor (1963) -- (Movie Clip) Nathan Bedford Forrest Now a patient in the mental hospital, on-assignment reporter Johnny (Peter Breck), lookng to solve a murder case, approaches delusional witness Stuart (James Best), then sees Pagliacci (Larry Tucker) et al cause a scene, in writer-director Sam Fuller's Shock Corridor, 1963.
Shock Corridor (1963) -- (Movie Clip) Riding The Crazy Horse Opening scene from writer-director Sam Fuller, Johnny (Peter Breck) interrogated by Dr. Fong (Philip Ahn), with Swanee (William Zuckert) and Cathy (Constance Towers), plotting high-risk investigative reporting, in Shock Corridor, 1963.
Shock Corridor (1963) -- (Movie Clip) America For Americans! Famous and profane scene, under-cover reporter Johnny (Peter Breck) with Trent (Hari Rhodes) during daily antics on the psych ward, who goes on a tirade, the key part of which writer-producer-director Samuel Fuller said he copied from a speech on the floor of the U.S. Congress, in Shock Corridor, 1963.
I Want To Live! (1958) -- (Movie Clip) Beat The Cyanide Barbara (Susan Hayward) with fellow inmate Rita (Marion Marshall) cutting a deal to have her boyfriend Ben (Peter Breck) set up an alibi, in Robert Wise's I Want To Live!, 1958.

Trailer

Bibliography