Anyone remember "Alias Smith and Jones"?

[joeybee12]

I don't...however, I was watching Gidget (Sally Field) on DVD and started checking as to where some of those people were now. Peter Duel, who played Gidget's brother-in-law, was actually pretty good in Gidget, and later got the role on Alias Smith and Jones. Then he killed himself shortly after they started filming the second season. At 31. He was pretty big by this time because the show was a big hit. What a shame.

Anyway, never saw the show while it was on, but as the first season progresses, it's starting to grow on me...they were finally figuring out--like most shows--what worked and what didn't. Can't imagine what the second and third seasons were like without Peter Duel...he carried the show, really.

[SwampG8r]

1. i do it was terrible after duel died

[joeybee12]

2. Yeah I can imagine, Ben Murphy was more of a poser than an actor...

Peter Duel really had "it"

[SwampG8r]

3. murphy came across as smarmy

where duel came across as whimsical
good show first season though

[joeybee12]

4. Duel seemed to capture what the characters were all about...n/t

[Hell Hath No Fury]

5. I had such a crush on Pete Duel!

:cry: I was just a kid and didn't understand what "suicide" was -- I thought for sure he had been murdered and wanted to find his killer. (I was a "Nancy Drew" freak. :D )

He was a real talent who left us way too early. :(

[joeybee12]

6. Yup, he was destined for greatness...

that's a great photo...he had an incredible smile.

[Scout]

8. my feelings are the same ... i was crushed when Pete Duel died n/t

[Z_I_Peevey]

13. Holy moley

I had forgotten how much he looked like my father.

Didn't they replace him with the guy who did the voiceover introduction in the first season? I seem to remember a distinctive voice...

[joeybee12]

14. I think they replaced him with an actor who was in the TV movie they tried to sell on this...

Ralph Story did the voice-over...a familair and distinctive voice.

[The Midway Rebel]

7. I was just a kid but it seems that show was based on the formula from the movie;

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

[joeybee12]

11. It was...in fact they specifically cast ben Murphy because they thought

he looked like paul newman.

[kimi]

9. Oh, I remember it!

But never knew why it ended. That's shocking. I just never knew.

How sad.

[LeftinOH]

10. The whole AS&J series is available on Netflix - it's pretty good, even if you don't like Westerns.

[joeybee12]

12. I took Season One out of the library...don't think they have the other

seasons.

[bikebloke]

15. I watched it as a kid.

Once they replaced Duel, it wasn't so good. Probably because if you'd followed the first season, you kept comparing the new guy to Duel.

[Ikonoklast]

16. Pete was a friend of the family.

My uncle had his brother Geoff Deuel (Pete changed his name for the screen) as a roomie in college.

Geoff also had some success as an actor in the sixties and seventies.

Nice people, nice family, it was so sad about Pete.