In 1960, Pete successfully auditioned for the American Theatre Wing in New York City where he spent 2 years studying Shakespearean drama, Restoration comedy, fencing, dancing, speech, elocution and body movement. During this time he also started his search for acting, landing parts with the Master Playhouse summer theatre at Standing Stone, the Shakespearwrights Repertory Theatre and the Players Theatre off-Broadway.

"I finally made it and got into Actors Equity by landing a small role in an off-Broadway production of Electra at the Players Theatre in Greenwich Village--they put me on as assistant stage manager. I'm still not sure to this day if they were trying to tell me something about my acting when they gave me the job of assistant stage manager. I certainly learned a lot of useful things working at that job."

Other modest parts followed and then in 1961 he made his first network TV appearance on The Armstrong Circle Theatre, a major dramatic anthology series. Sometime around 1962 he also made a small appearance in a theatrical movie called Wounded in Action which was filmed in The Philippines. His earliest appearance which remains on film is from a US Department of Defense training film called Espionage Target - You!

In 1963 he toured with the National Road Company production of Take Her She's Mine (the Broadway comedy hit starring Tom Ewell) where he played the role of Donn Bowdry. The tour covered the whole of the US over the course of the year before ending in Washington DC.

"I went on the national tour of Take Her, She's Mine with Joanna Pettit and Tom Ewell. It was a great experience, and I finally began feeling like a member of the acting fraternity. After the play closed in Washington, D.C., I went home for a summer of decision. I couldn't make up my mind if I should try the Broadway scene or head for Hollywood and try my luck there. But after a few months of serious thinking, I decided to head for the Hollywood casting offices and the open spaces."

His first small TV role came late in 1963 on Channing (The Last Testament of Buddy Crown) and this was followed by small roles on some of the most popular shows of the time - Combat (Vendetta), Gomer Pyle USMC (Gomer and the Dragon Lady and Dance Marine, Dance), 12 O'Clock High (Appointment at Liege and The Hero) and Mickey (Crazy Hips McNish) as well as a decent sized role on The Fugitive in Fun and Games and Party Favors.

By 1965 he was under contract to Screen Gems and he won a recurring role in the Gidget series which starred Sally Field. He played Gidget's somewhat square brother in law John Cooper, a psychology student who liked to practice on the family. Pete appeared in 22 of the 32 episodes and although the series was not renewed the following year it had given Pete good exposure and he won his first co-starring role in a series the following year.

It also brought him a Most Promising Male Star award from the Motion Picture Almanac and he impressed producer William Sackheim so much that he decided that he wanted Duel (and nobody else) for his next sitcom, Love on a Rooftop.

"But I still had to make a test and I wanted the part so badly, I was jumpy as a cat." commented Pete.

"We tested a number of actors and Peter was by far the best." said Bernard Slade, one of the writers of Love on a Rooftop. "Peter was a natural actor, enormously talented who could play both comedy and drama."

So he was chosen to play the role of David Willis in Screen Gems Television's Love on a Rooftop, with the British actress Judy Carne playing his wife Julie.

The show was about a young, newly married couple living on a shoestring in San Francisco and was filmed in colour - unusual at that time. "It could be about any young couple," Peter said, "and we think viewers of all ages will find something to identify with."

Dave was an apprentice architect earning $85.37 a week who discovers, after he has married her, that Julie comes from a rich family. "I try hard to bring a lot of myself into the role of David Willis." said Pete. "But, in many respects, he's a nicer person than I am. But then, you never see the mean side of TV characters. What I mean is, you see them angry, but not ugly. And they only get their comeuppance rather than being utterly defeated. Outside of this, I think one of the charms of Love On A Rooftop is that the two characters were realistic. Dave even gets petulant--sarcastic."

Peter had a reputation for being late on the set - he was even late on the very first day of filming according to Bernard Slade. This may have been one of the reasons for what was at times a somewhat fiery relationship between Pete and Judy Carne. Pete admitted "I suppose there's nothing more frustrating for a well-organized, schedule-conscious person like Judy than to come up against an all round mess of loose ends like me. I tease her a lot about her temper, maybe too much. But I will say this, her temper isn't the obnoxious kind. We have some pretty spicy words for each other, but she fights at a man's level and we never leave the set at night bearing grudges. Of course, I might add that we rarely leave the set together."

Yet, several years after Peter's death, in her autobiography, Judy Carne described how they confided in each other about their personal lives, how Peter was fiercely protective of her if he thought she was being mistreated and how they laughed together and indeed slept together on their trips to San Francisco to film the outdoor scenes for the series.

It would seem though that whatever they truly thought of each other, they didn't let it interfere with filming. "Regardless of what our personal feelings are for each other, we do work well together." said Pete. "I think being complete opposites helps us get into our respective roles. After all, David and Julie don't have a great deal in common except their love for each other. They have different backgrounds. As newlyweds, they're still getting to know each other, learning how to cope with their problems, etc. I guess Judy and I are in much the same kind of situation. Maybe someday we'll find out that we really do like each other--or that we can't stand each other completely.

Bernard Slade doesn't remember there being any particular problems on the set. "I don't remember it being a tense set. Swack ran a tight ship but liked actors so I believe it was a happy group."

Pete obviously took his career very seriously, and whilst filming Love on a Rooftop he commented about the "glamor" of stardom. "Acting is much harder work than most people realize. By the time we get done filming a day's sequence, I'm too bushed to do anything but go to bed early. After all, if I stayed up late, and then had to be on the set at eight the next day, I couldn't do the best job I was capable of. I love acting. But to me it is a profession, not a game. I want to be at my best all the time. If that cuts into the glamorous part of the profession it's okay with me. The show comes first."

Love on a Rooftop was cancelled at the end of its first season after a run of 30 episodes. Judy Carne explained "By the time we finished shooting the last episode of the season in the spring of 1967, ABC had not yet told us whether the show would be renewed. This was unusual, since our reviews had been excellent and the ratings as strong as another new show on ABC, "That Girl." After weeks in limbo the network announced it was canceling "Love on a Rooftop." It had obviously been a tough decision-at the time, ABC was the poorest of the networks financially, and we had simply been unable to outrate our principal opposition, NBC's Petticoat Junction.  Peter and I were devastated. It wasn't just that we were out of work, it was the frustration of losing out to such dubious competition. ABC received a flood of mail in protest of our cancellation, but it was to no avail."

Bernard Slade described his thoughts on its cancellation. "It is baffling why we weren't picked up because we had a higher rating than That Girl which got the nod over us. This maybe was because Marlo Thomas had a close relationship with one of the executives at ABC. This could be sour grapes but I believe we were a far superior show to That Girl. Yes, I was disappointed but my career was in full flower and I simply went on to writing other shows. Swack however, was devastated and vowed never to do another series again. And he never did."

Pete also commented on its cancellation some years later "Someone else wanted that time slot and had enough muscle to get it, which left us out in the cold. The show was well liked and the ratings were good enough to go on for another year. But it didn't have a chance."

In 1967, after Love on a Rooftop was cancelled, he had a strong support role in the feature film, The Hell with Heroes which starred Rod Taylor. His performance in this film was enough to win him a 7 year contract with Universal Studios which he signed in July 1967. A studio contract meant that he was paid every week, not per episode. It also means that the studio will give an actor work to build them up before putting them in a series.

Between 1967 and 1970, Pete enjoyed what he was later to describe as a "carefree" time, making guest appearances on many major shows, playing his favourite dramatic roles, for which he also received recognition from the industry.

"It's easier for me when I'm acting in a heavy dramatic role rather than a comedy," Pete said. "It just fits my personality better. Comedy takes more effort but a good dramatic role gets my juices going, and it just happens--it's just kind of natural for me."

Two roles that he especially identified with were The Psychiatrist, where he guest starred in the pilot and the first episode of the series, and Matt Lincoln.

"There have been two roles that have been close to portions of my personality. Never the whole guy. But you zero in on those facets you recognize. On "The Psychiatrist,'' I played an ex-junkie named Casey Poe, who was very clear to me. He was a loner. There was much about life he didn't understand. He had a lot of hostility, felt himself misunderstood, the victim of circumstances. I could identify with that, with Casey's fears---the fear of failure, the fear of success, the fear of other human beings we all have to a greater or lesser degree. He was my age and spoke the way I'd speak, and I was able to get right into it. I wore my own beard and my own clothes, no makeup, nothing to distract me. I would just drive to work, get out of my car, walk onto the stage and start shooting. Another thing that helped was that I had read Louis Lablanky's book, Synanon, The Tunnel Back, and for the first time really understood that junkies were human beings. I hadn't been prejudiced, but that book made me understand that all human beings are basically alike, have similar problems and simply take different ways out. When it came time to play Casey Poe, it was a snap."

"The other role was that of the priest I played in Matt Lincoln, who fell in love with a girl and wanted to leave the Church, but, in the end, decided to wait and see it through. I could understand this man, the doubts he had. I played him very peacefully, without having to strain. I allowed myself to relax the way I am capable of relaxing if I choose to hard enough. Sometimes I'm just not able to relax. In this town there are always so many things on my mind, things that have to be done. I could relax in this character without any feeling of guilt because I was working. I could be cool and quiet through the period of time I did the role, even after work. I'm not usually like that."

He impressed in several other dramatic roles, displaying a totally different side to his talents than was seen in his lighter, comedy roles such as Love on a Rooftop and Alias Smith and Jones.

His guest appearance on The Bold Ones is considered by many to be one of his strongest performances.  He plays a Vietnam veteran accused of the murder of his best friend and refuses to give evidence at his own hearing because what he has to tell will dis-honour his friend.  The scene where he finally relents and tells his lawyer what happened is extremely powerful and moving.

He also made two guest appearances on Marcus Welby MD.  The first was in the pilot episode where he played an aphasiac, left only able to say one word "mother" after a car accident.  Again, he showed great versatility in the way he used that one word to express everything.  His second appearance in Marcus Welby was as a Native American (in full body makeup) who was unsure about his medical training.  There are parts of this appearance which seem especially poignant considering Pete's own life - his character even contemplates suicide in the final scene.

His appearance in The Interns was another dramatic one. His character needs treatment on a kidney machine but as there just aren't enough machines available, he is left without the treatment he needs.  The Young Lawyers is also a favourite with many.  This time his character is an ex junkie full of anger at the terms of his parole which prevent him from seeing his wife or friends.

In an episode of The Virginian he played an outlaw with a good heart and although the role of Jim Dewie at first appears to have some things in common with Hannibal Heyes, Pete displays his true talent and plays the role so differently that Jim Dewie can never be confused with Hannibal Heyes.  In another episode of The Virginian he plays a misguided young man who means well, but doesn't know how to show it.  

In an episode of Ironside he plays his most evil character, something he makes obvious within seconds of appearing on screen.  Two episodes of The Name of the Game, one with his real-life brother Geoffrey Deuel playing the role of his brother, and one where he plays a Czech revolutionary, plus appearances in Insight, The FBI and two further pilots (The Young Country and How to Steal an Airplane) complete his guest appearance roles.

As Pete explained though, it was at times not easy to persuade producers that he could play these heavy roles. "The producer didn't want me for The Psychiatrist. He thought all I could play was light comedy, because of my association with Gidget and Love on a Rooftop. Then someone up top showed him film of me as a Czech revolutionary in Name of the Game."

Looking back on Love on a Rooftop, Pete wasn't sure whether it was or wasn't good for him. " I got a lot of work from it, and that helped. It attracted attention from people in the business. But I also encountered resistance because some people thought I couldn't play serious roles, that all I was good for was fluff."

In 1969 he co-starred in Avco Embassy's film Generation with David Janssen and Kim Darby, with whom he developed an off-screen romance. Pete played Walter Owen, a rebellious young husband whose wife, Doris, is nine months' pregnant when they marry. Together they plan a natural, home birth, but when Walter meets his new father-in-law, things don't go to plan. This is also the first appearance in which Pete used his new screen name of Pete Duel, rather than Peter Deuel (his real name).

The following year, he appeared in another movie, Cannon for Cordoba which was filmed in Spain and starred George Peppard.  Pete's character (Andy Rice) is part of the US Army's mission to subdue the viscious bandit Cordoba during the Mexican Revolution.

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