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The 'brains' and 'action' heavies who had meaty roles and lots of dialog ... and the players who were fathers, ranch owners, lawman, mayors, judges, lawyers, storekeepers, newspaper editors, wardens, etc.


House Peters, Jr.

Real name: Robert House Peters, Jr.

1916-2008

At the August, 2000 Golden Boot awards ceremony, Republic Pictures heroine Peggy Stewart presented the special "Backbone of the B's" award to Gregg Barton, Myron Healey, Walter Reed ... and the subject of this page, House Peters, Jr.

Peters was born in New Rochelle, New York in 1916, and his father, House Peters, Sr. was an early Hollywood film performer.

His screen work begins around 1935 in bit parts, but it was in the 1940s and 1950s that House Peters, Jr. hit his stride.  During those two decades, he did dozens of westerns and non-westerns, both A and B grade varieties, and his roles varied from henchman or brains heavy to that of a military officer, police officer, et al.  As the B western and serial faded away in the early 1950s, Peters took to TV, and made frequent appearances in shows such as THE LONE RANGER, ANNIE OAKLEY, BUFFALO BILL, JR., WILD BILL HICKOK, PERRY MASON, more.  He also portrayed the local sheriff during the first season or two of LASSIE.

House Peters, Jr. did a bunch of 1950s B&W TV commercials ... but is probably best remembered as as the bald-headed and T-shirt wearing "Mr. Clean", sweeping into TV kitchens everywhere to help make them sparkling and fresh.

Les Adams has Peters identified in a total of 71 films, and of this number, 45 are westerns and 8 are serials.  He did some work at Republic Pictures during the period 1937-1952, where he appeared in a couple of cliffhangers and a dozen or so features, mostly low budget westerns.

House Peters, Jr. passed away on October 1, 2008 at the Motion Picture Home and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California. He was 92.

  Although some of the data is incomplete or inaccurate, the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) has information on House Peters, Jr.: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0676310/

Peters wrote his autobiography titled Another Side Of Hollywood, and you can read more about the book at: http://housepetersjr.50megs.com/




(Courtesy of Les Adams)

Above from left to right are Carol Henry, Johnny Mack Brown and House Peters, Jr. in a scene from Brown's GUNNING FOR JUSTICE (Monogram, 1948).


(Courtesy of Minard Coons)

Above from left to right are House Peters Jr., I. Stanford Jolley, Stanley Price, Whip Wilson and Tommy Farrell in Whip's last starring film, WYOMING ROUNDUP (Monogram, 1952).



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