Paul Petersen

This article is about the American actor. For other uses of those similarly named, see Paul Pedersen (disambiguation).

Paul Petersen
Born	William Paul Petersen September 23, 1945 (1945-09-23) Glendale, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, singer
Spouse	Brenda Benet (1967 - 1970)

William Paul Petersen (born September 23, 1945) is an American movie actor, singer, novelist, and activist. Primarily known for his character-type roles in the 1960s and 1970s, as an adult Petersen established the organization A Minor Consideration to support child stars and other child laborers through legislation, family education, and personal intervention and counseling for those in crisis.

Petersen achieved fame in the 1960s playing Jeff Stone on The Donna Reed Show. In the early 1980s, he also had a recurring role as a police officer on Matt Houston, and in the late 1990s, he played the author Paul Conway in the film Mommy's Day.

Acting career

Petersen began his show business career at the age of ten as a Mouseketeer on the Mickey Mouse Club. He appeared in the 1958 movie Houseboat with Sophia Loren and Cary Grant, but achieved stardom playing teenager Jeff Stone from 1958 to 1966 in the ABC family television sitcom The Donna Reed Show. Petersen had a modest recording success with the overly sentimental teen pop song "My Dad", which was introduced on the Reed show in 1962. Petersen sang the tune to his screen father, actor Carl Betz.

Peterson had a small role as Tony Biddle in the 1967 musical film The Happiest Millionaire. He appeared in many guest roles, including one as a military officer in the short-lived 1967 ABC western series Custer, with Wayne Maunder in the title role.

Singing career

Petersen's fame brought recording offers and he had hit record singles with songs "She Can't Find Her Keys", "Amy", and "Lollipops and Roses", as well as "My Dad" that made #6 on the Billboard Hot 100. He also recorded during the 1960s for Motown, including the singles "Chained" and "A Little Bit For Sandy".

Discography

Studio Albums

• 1962: Lollipops and Roses
• 1963: Teenage Triangle -- Colpix CP-444/SCP-444 -- #48, 5/63

Featuring four tracks each by Paul Petersen, Shelley Fabares, and James Darren

• 1963: My Dad
• 1963 "Polkadots and Moonbeams"
• 1963: Bye Bye Birdie -- Colpix CP-454/SCP-454

Songs from the movie sung by Petersen, The Marcels, James Darren and Shelley Fabares

• 1964: More Teenage Triangle -- Colpix CP-468/SCP-468

Second album featuring Petersen, Fabares and Darren

College education and authorship

After his years as a child actor, Petersen returned to the university and obtained a degree in literature that helped him to write sixteen adventure novels.

Petersen's authorship began after he met David Oliphant, a New York publisher visiting Los Angeles. His first novel concerned car racing. Thereafter, he created a Matt Helm-type hero, Eric Saveman, also known as "The Smuggler." In one year, Pocket Books published eight of his Smuggler novels, earning Petersen $75,000.

In 1977 Petersen's autobiography, Walt, Mickey and Me: Confessions of the First Ex-Mouseketeer, was published.

Activism

In 1990, following the suicide of former child star Rusty Hamer, Petersen founded a child-actor support group, A Minor Consideration, to improve working conditions for child actors and to assist in the transition between working as a child actor and adult life, whether in acting or in other professions.

He is currently a board member of the Donna Reed Foundation and works for the Donna Reed Festival, which takes place annually the third week of June in Reed's hometown of Denison, Iowa. He also currently serves on the board of directors of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), a national media performers AFL-CIO union based in Los Angeles.

External links

• Paul Petersen at the Internet Movie Database
• Paul Petersen Official Website
• A Minor Consideration