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Peter Whitney
Peter Whitney
	Whitney in Baptism of Fire (1943)
Born	Peter King Engle; May 24, 1916; Long Branch, New Jersey, U.S.
Died	March 30, 1972 (aged 55); Santa Barbara, California, U.S.
Resting place	Valley Oaks Memorial Park, Westlake Village, California
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1941–1972
Spouses	; Adrienne Whitney (m. 1939; div. 1947) ; Barbara Engle; (m. 1948)
Children	5

Peter Whitney (born Peter King Engle; May 24, 1916 – March 30, 1972) was an American actor in film and television. Tall and heavyset, he played brutish villains in many Hollywood films in the 1940s and 1950s.

Early years

Whitney grew up in California. His schools included the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London. He studied drama at the Pasadena Playhouse.^[1]

Career

Whitney appeared in the films Destination Tokyo (1943), Action in the North Atlantic (1943), Mr. Skeffington (1944), Murder, He Says (1945) (in which he played a dual role), The Big Heat (1953), In the Heat of the Night (1967), The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970), and others before becoming well known for his work in television.

In the 1958–1959 season, Whitney had a co-starring role as Buck Sinclair, a former sergeant of the Union Army, in all 39 episodes of the ABC Western series The Rough Riders.^[2] He also guest-starred on the ABC/Warner Brothers Western series Colt .45. He performed the part of Ralph in the 1958 episode "Mantrap".^[3] He played United States Secret Service agent Gunnerson in the episode "Savage Hills," and Brock in "Dodge City or Bust" on the ABC/WB series, Maverick. In 1960, in the episode "Surface of Truth" of another ABC/WB Western series, Lawman, Whitney played Lucas Beyer, a crude white man who has lived for ten years with the Cheyenne Indians.^[4]

Whitney made three guest appearances on the CBS courtroom drama series Perry Mason: in 1961 he performed as the character Roger Gates in "The Case of the Pathetic Patient"; in 1962, as prison escapee Stefan "Big Steve" Jahnchek in "The Case of the Stand-in Sister"; and in 1965, as Captain Otto Varnum in "The Case of the Wrongful Writ."

Whitney also appeared on such series as The Public Defender, Gunsmoke, Adventures of Superman, City Detective, Fury, My Friend Flicka ("A Case of Honor"), The Californians, Sheriff of Cochise, Behind Closed Doors, Northwest Passage, Tate, Tombstone Territory (episode "Apache Vendetta"), Johnny Ringo, The Virginian (The Runaway – 1969), Riverboat, Bourbon Street Beat, The Alaskans, Overland Trail (as Governor Sutcliff in episode "First Stage to Denver"), The Rebel, The Islanders, Adventures in Paradise, Straightaway, Wagon Train, The Untouchables, Bonanza, The Rifleman, The Monkees, Petticoat Junction (as Jasper Tweedy, in the 1969 episode: "Sorry Doctor, I Ain't Taking No Shots"), Green Acres, The Beverly Hillbillies, Rawhide (episode "Incident of the Music Maker"), Peter Gunn (as Josiah in the episode “The Best Laid Plans“, and Hawaii Five-O. In addition, Whitney played a French partisan fighter named Massine in the 1963 episode "Thunder from the Hill" of ABC's military drama Combat!, as well as the character Caleb Calhoun in a 1964 episode of the Daniel Boone series. Then, in 1965, Whitney was cast as Judge Roy Bean in the episode "A Picture of a Lady" on the syndicated television series Death Valley Days.

He also did well as a comedy actor, making four appearances on "The Beverly Hillbillies" as the oafish Lafayette "Lafe" Crick.

Peter Whitney's final role on television was that of a grave robber in writer Rod Serling's series Night Gallery, in a 1972 episode segment titled "Deliveries in the Rear".^[5]

Death

Whitney died of a heart attack at the age of 55 in Santa Barbara, California. He was buried at Pierce Brothers Valley Oaks Memorial Park in Westlake Village, California.^[6] he had 5 children

Partial filmography

Underground (1941) – Alex
Nine Lives Are Not Enough (1941) – Roy
Blues in the Night (1941) – Pete Bossett
Valley of the Sun (1942) – Willie
Rio Rita (1942) – Jake
Spy Ship (1942) – Zinner
Busses Roar (1942) – Frederick Hoff
Reunion in France (1942) – Soldier
Whistling in Dixie (1942) – Frank V. Bailie
Action in the North Atlantic (1943) – Whitey Lara
Destination Tokyo (1943) – Dakota
Mr. Skeffington (1944) – Chester Forbish
Bring on the Girls (1945) – Swede
Hotel Berlin (1945) – Heinrichs
Murder, He Says (1945) – Mert Fleagle / Bert Fleagle
Three Strangers (1946) – Timothy Delaney aka Gabby
The Notorious Lone Wolf (1946) – Harvey Beaumont
Blonde Alibi (1946) – Police Lieutenant Melody Haynes
Canyon Passage (1946) – Cornelius – Baggage Clerk (uncredited)
The Brute Man (1946) – Police Lieutenant Gates
Violence (1947) – Joker Robinson
Northwest Outpost (1947) – Volkoff Overseer
The Gangster (1947) – Karty's Brother-in-Law (uncredited)
The Iron Curtain (1948) – Cipher Lieutenant Vinikov (uncredited)
Big Jim McLain (1952) – Communist Truck Driver (uncredited)
The Great Sioux Uprising (1953) – Ahab Jones
The Big Heat (1953) – Tierney
All the Brothers Were Valiant (1953) – James Finch, First Mate
Gorilla at Large (1954) – Kovacs
The Black Dakotas (1954) – Grimes
Day of Triumph (1954) – Nikator
The Sea Chase (1955) – Bachman
The Last Frontier (1955) – Sergeant Major Decker
Cheyenne (1955–1962, TV Series) – Lionel Abbot / Eli Henderson / Hugo Parma / Sam Magruder
Gunsmoke (1955–1965, TV Series) – Jason Holt / Dan Braden / Gip Cooley / Ira / Big Dan Daggit / Jase Murdock
Great Day in the Morning (1956) – Phil the Cannibal (uncredited)
The Cruel Tower (1956) – 'Joss' Jossman
Man from Del Rio (1956) – Ed Bannister
Tombstone Territory (1957) – Karl Rank
Domino Kid (1957) – Lafe Prentiss
The Walter Winchell File (1957, Episode: "Where is Louis Melk?") – Rocco Ricardi
Zane Grey Theatre (1957–1961, TV Series) – Moose / Cox, Saloonkeeper / Growler / Chub
Rough Riders (1958–59, TV Series) Sergeant Buck Sinclair
Have Gun - Will Travel (1958–1960, TV Series) – Major Proctor / Judd Calhoun
Official Detective (1958, Episode: "Missing") – Swanson
Buchanan Rides Alone (1958) – Amos Agry
Wagon Train (1958–1965, TV Series) – Buster Blee / Sheriff Pincus / Judd / Kempton / Sergeant Pat Galloway / El Landron / Rodney Miller
The Rifleman (1959–1963, TV Series) – Nebeneezer Jackman / Vantine / Neb Jackman / John Holliver / Vince Fergus / Ott Droshek / Andrew Bechtel / John Jupiter / Tracey Blanch
Rawhide (1960, TV Series) – Anton Zwahlen (A Swiss gunsmith sabotages the drovers' weapons in an ingenious attempt to rustle part of the herd. Kessle: Peter Whitney (not Werner Klemperer) Maria: Lili Kardell. Favor: Eric Fleming. Rowdy: Clint Eastwood.)^{[citation needed]}
Death Valley Days (1961–1966, TV Series) – Captain Joe Fuller / Judge Roy Bean / Peter the Hunter / Nat Halper / Joe Meekes
Perry Mason (1961–1965, TV Series) – Roger Gates / Stefan "Big Steve" Jahnchek / Captain Otto Varnum
Straightaway (1961) – Sam Cook (episode "The Heist")
The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (1962) – The Giant (uncredited)
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1963) (Season 2 Episode 3: "Terror at Northfield") - Bib Hadley
The Beverly Hillbillies (1964, TV Series) – Lafayette 'Lafe' Crick
The Virginian (1964–1969, TV Series) – McPherson / Ansel Miller / Jake Landers / Lars Holstrom
The Sword of Ali Baba (1965) – Abou
In the Heat of the Night (1967) – Courtney
The Monkees A Nice Place to Visit (1967) (TV Series)
Chubasco (1968) – Matt
The Great Bank Robbery (1969) – Brother Jordan Cass, Tunneling
The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970) – Cushing
Night Gallery (1972, TV Series) – First Grave Robber (segment "Deliveries in the Rear")
Tales of Wells Fargo (1961, TV Series S5E29) Moose
Combat (1963 Season 2, Thunder from the Hill, TV Series) Massine