House Peters

Robert House Peters Sr. (12 March 1880 – 7 December 1967) was a British-born American silent film actor, known to filmgoers of the era as "The Star of a Thousand Emotions".

House Peters Sr.
Peters Sr., 1922
Born
Robert House Peters

(1880-03-12)12 March 1880
Bristol, England
Died7 December 1967(1967-12-07) (aged 87)
Burial placeCremated at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale[1]
OccupationActor
Years active1900s–1950s
SpouseMae King (m. 1914)

Biography

Born in Bristol, Gloucestershire, England, Peters began his career on a high note, playing the handsome leading man in In the Bishop's Carriage (1913), co-starring Mary Pickford. While The Bishop's Carriage was filmed in an East Coast studio, Peters was in Los Angeles by 1914, becoming one of the first screen stars to permanently settle there. Although he stated publicly that he preferred playing villains, Peters, curly haired and pleasantly dimpled, was from the outset typecast as the romantic hero.

Peters lifts Beatriz Michelena onto his horse in Salomy Jane (1914)

After enjoying his greatest success as the good-bad hero of The Girl of the Golden West (1915), Peters' career peaked in the early 1920s. He signed with Universal Studios for six films in 1924, hoping for a comeback. The results, however, were mostly mediocre and he was soon demoted to supporting roles. Retired after 1928's Rose Marie, Peters returned for a guest appearance in The Old West, a 1952 Gene Autry film that also featured his son, House Peters Jr., who subsequently enjoyed a lengthy film career portraying villains as well as Procter and Gamble's Mr. Clean character in cleaning product commercials from the late 1950s into the '60s.

Personal life

Peters was married to actress Mae King in 1914 with whom he had three children, Gregg, Patricia and Robert Jr., who subsequently used the stage name House Peters Jr. Peters was 87 when he died of pneumonia[2] at the Motion Picture Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California.

Filmography

YearTitleRoleNotes
1913In the Bishop's CarriageObermuller
1913Chelsea 7750Prof. Grimble
1913An Hour Before DawnKate's Father - the Ex-Detective
1913The Port of DoomKate's Father
1913Leah KleschnaPaul Sylvain
1913A Lady of QualityThe Duke of Osmonde
1914The Pride of JennicoBasil Jennico
1914ClothesArnold West
1914The BruteBilly WestShort
1914Salomy JaneThe Man
1914Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage PatchBob
1915The Girl of the Golden WestRamerrez
1915MignonWilhelm Meister
1915The Warrens of VirginiaNed Burton
1915The UnafraidStefan BalsicShort
1915The CaptiveMuhamud Hassan
1915Stolen GoodsRichard Carlton
1915Between MenGregg Lewiston
1915The Winged IdolJack Leonard
1915The Great DivideStephen Ghent
1916The Hand of PerilJames Kestner
1916The Closed RoadFrank Sargeant
1916The Rail RiderJim Lewis
1916The Velvet PawRobert Moorehead
1917Happiness of Three WomenBilly Craig
1917As Men LovePaul Russell
1917The Lonesome ChapStuart Kirkwood
1917The Highway of HopeSteve King
1917The Heir of the AgesHugh Payne
1919The ForfeitJeffrey Masters
1919Thunderbolts of FateRobert Wingfield
1919You Never Know Your LuckJ.G. Kerry
1920The Great RedeemerDan Malloy
1920The Leopard WomanJohn Culbertson
1920Isobel or The Trail's EndSgt. William MacVeigh
1920Silk Husbands and Calico WivesDeane Kendall
1921Lying LipsBlair Cornwall
1921The Invisible PowerSid Chambers
1921The Man from Lost RiverBarnes
1922The StormBurr Winton
1922Rich Men's WivesJohn Masters
1922Human HeartsTom Logan
1923Lost and Found on a South Sea IslandCapt. Blackbird
1923Don't Marry for MoneyPeter Smith
1923Held to AnswerJohn Hampstead
1924The TornadoTornado
1925Head WindsPeter Rosslyn
1925Raffles, the Amateur CracksmanRaffles, the Amateur Cracksman
1925The Storm BreakersJohn Strong
1925Counsel for the DefenseArnold Peters
1926The CombatBlaze Burke
1926Prisoners of the Storm'Bucky' Malone
1928Rose-MarieSergeant Malone
1952The Old WestParson Jonathan Brooks
1952O. Henry's Full HouseDave Bascom(segment "The Clarion Call"), Uncredited
1953Treasure of the Golden CondorMagistrateUncredited, (final film role)

References

External links