Rona Barrett's Hollywood, May 1972
As
if Pete Duel's suicide wasn't shocking enough, more than
a few Hollywood citizens were absolutely flabbergasted
as how little time it took Universal to replace him on Alias
Smith and Jones. One Friday morning Hollywood hears of Pete's
death and then--only two days later Roger Davis has been
signed as Pete's replacement. Even considering that Pete
had been in the middle of a Smith segment when he pointed
a gun at himself, many of his friends--off the set and on--felt
filming had been resumed just a bit too hastily. The business-as-usual
air that pervaded the show's set on the following Monday had
many heads a-scratching, but producer Roy Huggins explained
that the series was engaged in a desperate battle to inch into
the top 40 (and thus hopefully automatic-renewal land) so they
couldn't afford any delay, however small. With that explanation
soothing a few jangled nerves, then came word that very few people
at Universal connected with the show had bothered to show up
at Pete's funeral in Pacific Palisades. Frank Price,
a Universal vice-president, denied that report although he himself
was too busy to attend the services since "I was in a projection
room all day Sunday trying to get The Sixth Sense on the
air and I wasn't there." At any rate, we hope Roger
will have smooth sailing on the show--you may remember him from
Dark Shadows a couple of years ago and more recently,
that Canada Dry commercial in which his voice had a positively
astounding resemblance to Henry Fonda's...Back to Articles List