|
The physical
nature and lively mind of Pete Duel meant that his interests went far
beyond acting.
It appears
that his first interest, from an early age, was aircraft. By the age of
five, at the end of the Second World War, he could identify and list the
features of every plane in the sky and was enrolled at a very early age in
one-boy flight training. Pete’s sole aim during his teenage years
was to enlist in the air force, however on applying when he was seventeen
he failed the physical.
 Disappointed
by his rejection from the air force Pete turned his attention to cars and
speed on the ground. This fascination continued throughout his life
despite a car accident, which left him with a partially severed tongue and
broken pelvis, and motorcycle accident, which resulted in a severe leg
injury. In fact his obsession with racing was a matter of some concern for
his friends, one commenting, “he attended as many road races as he could
and it was clear he was fascinated by speed,” and another that “he has
such a wonderful future ahead of him……if he would only take stock of
the situation as objectively as he does with everything else in his life,
he would realise what the truth is, namely that he could die anytime just
because he likes to taste the thrill of racing.” Pete himself commented
in an interview aptly titled “don’t dare me I may do it” written in
1967, “Cars and motor cycles are a weakness I watch, I’m mechanical
and revel in the quality of a fine car and cycle.”
Although
this love of fast cars and racing seems in many ways to be at odds with
his love of nature and solitude, perhaps Pete found it a release, a way of
dealing with the mounting pressures in his life, but according to his
friends he took it to an extreme level; “it’s fortunate in one way
that he never went to drugs or wild sex or any of those extremes, but what
he’s involved in now can be just as dangerous.”
 Pete
developed an interest in nature and ecology during his childhood. He was
lucky enough to grow up in a small country town with lots of woods and
fields surrounding it and his father introduced him to camping and hiking.
“It’s my main hobby, I just love it. I spend much of my free time
exploring the back country of California’s High Sierras and sometimes
spend weeks at a time driving through this – to me – wonderfully
uncharted country.” He had a camper van and trailer in which he
travelled most of the continent, sleeping in it much of the time; he was
described in one magazine feature as a melancholy figure who liked to camp
alone in the wilderness. “ I’d rather be out camping in the wilderness
than anything else I can think of. I like to load up my jeep with
provisions, tent and stove and head out to some remote areas of California
or Nevada. It’s fun out there exploring old mines and ghost towns.”
This love of camping was based on two main motivations; the thrill of
discovery and adventure and also the chance to take time out from the
stress of his life, “I also use these moments to contemplate. I think it
is very important for each of us that we have time away from the demands
of everyday life. Such can make us terribly neurotic if we aren’t
careful, and that’s a trap I very much want to avoid.”
Pete spent
much of his free time in the mountains and in 1970 bought a twenty acre
piece of land in a secluded area, near Sonora, surrounded by national
forest, describing the air, view and seclusion as fantastic. “The only
problem is that it’s so high up – 8500 feet – and gets so much snow
that it’s only accessible for six months out of the year. Once last
winter when I went up I had to walk the last three miles.” He admitted
that he bought the property “to escape to, it kind of reminds me of back
home in Penfield although it’s a lot more rugged."
This love of
nature meant that Pete became very involved in issues of ecology and the
damage being done to the countryside. “I’m very interested in
preserving the environment and always have been, even when I was a small
boy I worried about people and factories moving in and taking over and
eventually destroying my fields and woods. Nobody thought about the
environment too much then and when it finally happened it was considered
progress.” He became increasingly frustrated about pollution, noise and
overcrowded cities, commenting, “we’ve gotten ourselves into a really
tough situation now. We’ve all sat back and enjoyed our easy and
carefree non-returnable, super-amplified society without ever thinking
about the damage we’re causing ourselves. I know it’s hard to change
but we just have to.” In fact in an interview at his parent’s home he
claimed that pollution was much more worth talking about than his career.
“There isn’t much to smile about anymore with air and water pollution,
oil smeared beaches, DDT, over population, racism and the deliberate
killing off of species.” One interviewer commented that Pete carried
with him a double-edged awareness of the world’s problems, his terrible
concern for the future of mankind. In 1970, he narrated for free a
documentary about ecology issues called Ah Man See What You've Done.
His home
life with Diane Ray was completely bound by ecological considerations,
from the type of food they bought, recycling and conserving water and
electricity. Nothing made Pete so uptight than the ravage of nature, he
had an almost evangelical fervour regarding ecology; assailing public
ignorance and apathy, government complacency and corporate ruthlessness,
insisting that “conserving our resources is essential if we’re going
to stay out of trouble.” He wrote fierce poetry about “Beer Can
Highways” and often signed his autographs ‘Peace and ecology now.’
He also signed with Ben Coopers Celebrity Speakers Bureau on the coast to
spread the word, pleading for action on the pollution crisis and airing
some controversial views including that for the human race to survive
people should be limited to one child per couple either through moral
persuasion or failing that law.
Pete became
very involved with the campaign of anti-war president Gene McCarthy in
1968. He saw McCarthy as the “philosopher king” he wanted for
president, someone with the vision and awareness of a philosopher plus
political acumen. He worked at the McCarthy headquarters addressing and
stuffing envelopes, giving out leaflets and generally running errands and
stayed on right through to Chicago where he found himself face to face
with a terrified young National Guardsman wearing a gas mask and pointing
a bayonet at him, “Chicago was the closest I ever want to come to war, I
couldn’t put a price on the education I got from that campaign.”
Friends of Pete agree that his political interests jinxed his relationship
with Mary Beth Griswold, commenting that when he wasn’t on set he was
vigorously campaigning around the country.
 Along
with his interest in nature came a deep love of animals. He had two dogs,
Shoshone, named after the Indian tribe and Caroll, named after Lewis
Caroll. Dave McHugh, a New York composer recalled the time he and
Pete both plunged into the icy Hudson river to save a puppy and Roy
Thinnes mentions the wild bird with a broken leg that Pete took home while
filming on location with The Psychiatrist. Some time later Pete arrived on
set looking disturbed and the emotion spilled over into his scene. Thinnes
asked what was wrong and learned that the bird had died that morning.
Pete’s
list of personal belongings gave a clue as to the kind of person he was.
He loved to read and his library included everything from art books, the
poetry of Dylan Thomas, political essays, the complete works of
Shakespeare and Thoreau’s writings on nature.
In between
his acting and ecological involvement he found time for piano lessons,
writing free verse, guitar playing and sketching. Pete was something of an
accomplished artist, often using a felt pen for drawings ranging from
semi-cartoon caricatures to abstract lines that had no meaning other than
that their relationship on paper was interesting. He loved art, and his
paintings and sketches reflected his simple yet varied feelings towards
life, being whimsical and colourful and speaking out on the world very
directly.
Pete
reads one of his poems entitled We Got
Much of his
poetry however was strong and driving and reflected his beliefs, tending
to be dark and bewailing the mass destruction of the environment. He
was exposed to classical music from an early age. His parents belonged to
a record club and Pete eagerly awaited the mailman so he could be the
first to play the new discs. This love of music never left him, by his own
admission he loved anything “that’s solid and genuine, a good violin
concerto turns me to the wall.”
In summary
Pete was an intensely creative, truly involved human being, with a
strongly developed social conscience and the drive to act upon his
beliefs.
|
|
