During the late 1970s, as networks scrambled to find enough child actors to fill their "after school special" kid-angst movies, Brothers Chris and Pat Petersen (no relation to the 1950s teen idol
Paul Petersen) were important players.
Chris, the oldest (born in 1963), was everywhere in 1978 and 1979, on tv (
Little House on the Prairie, The Incredible Hulk, The Baxters) and in movies (
When Every Day was the Fourth of July, The Swarm). His roles often involved buddy-bonds:
1. Playing baseball with Larry B. Scott in
The Rag-Tag Champs, an
ABC Afterschool Special (1978)
2. Lost in the Colorado Rockies with Guillermo San Juan in
Joey and Redhawk on
CBS Afternoon Playhouse. This one had a "boys alone" gay subtext.
3. Karate-kicking with younger brother Pat in the precursor to the 1990s
ninja kid craze,
The Little Dragons (1979).
4. Fighting racism with
Moosie Drier in
The House at 12 Rose Street (1980).
When Chris hit his teen years, the roles dried up, and he retired from acting.
His brother Patrick (born in 1966) had a longer career, starting with the tv series
The Kallikas (1977),
How the West was Won (1979), and
Shirley (1980), plus some gay-subtext after school specials of his own:
1.
The Ransom of Red Chief (1977, 1979), an
ABC Schoolbreak Special about a boy terrorizing his kidnappers.
2.
The Contest Kid (1978, 1979), an
ABC Schoolbreak Special about a boy who enters contests, and his best friend (
Ronnie Scribner).
In 1979, he landed the role of Michael Fairgate on the evening soap
Knot's Landing. Michael provided shirtless teen-idol photos and tight jeans as the teenage son of Sid and Karen Fairgate, who worked in an auto garage and kept getting dumped by girls.
When
Knot's Landing ended in 1991, Pat retired from acting and opened a health food store.
So what production does the image PetersonChris1 come from? That's obviously not baseball or the Colorado Rockies.
ReplyDeleteI don't know, the post was too long ago to remember.
DeleteI believe that it was from The House at 12 Rose Street (1980).
DeleteWatching Pat Peterson on "Knots Landing" all of those years..... He was such a cutie! He left the show before it ended in 1993 though.
ReplyDeleteI was a huge Knots fan and have always wondered about that blue sweater picture above of Patrick. I don't know if that was on purpose because I'd never seen that crotch shot in any other Knots scenes but he was definitely packing something there.
ReplyDeleteLook at him in circus of the stars in tights on the trapeze... it's HUGE
DeleteHe was on until 1991..The show its self was on untill 1993 !!
ReplyDeleteSorry, this post is from 2013. I don't know what you are talking about, but if it's causing you so much distress, I'll be happy to change the reference. Who is "he," and which show did I write down the wrong ending date for?
Delete