Paul Petersen Biography
Paul Petersen is an actor, singer, novelist, and activist from the United States. Petersen rose to fame in the 1950s as Jeff Stone on The Donna Reed Show before transitioning to a singing career in the 1960s. He had a recurring role as a police officer on Matt Houston in the early 1980s, and in the late 1990s, he played author Paul Conway in the film Mommy’s Day.
How old is Paul Petersen? – Age
He is 77 years old as of September 2022, Paul was born William Paul Petersen on September 23, 1945, in Glendale, California, United States of America.
How tall is Paul Petersen? – Height- Weight
Paul stands at a height of 1.8 and Weighs, 75 kg.
Paul Petersen Wife- Children
Petersen has had three marriages. Brenda Benet, an actress, was his first wife. They tied the knot in 1967 and divorced in 1970. He married Hallie Litman in 1974, and they had two children. In 1988, they divorced. Petersen married Rana Jo Platz in December 1992. Petersen has two children from his second marriage, as well as a daughter from a previous relationship.
Paul Petersen Career
Petersen began his career in show business at the age of ten as a Mouseketeer on the Mickey Mouse Club. He appeared in the 1958 film Houseboat alongside Sophia Loren and Cary Grant, but he rose to prominence as teenager Jeff Stone on the ABC Family television sitcom The Donna Reed Show from 1958 to 1966. The Donna Reed Show became part of American popular culture over the course of eight seasons and decades of syndication reruns, and Petersen was honored with the Young Artist Foundation’s Former Child Star “Lifetime Achievement” Award in 1997 for his role on the series.
Following the end of The Donna Reed Show, Petersen played Tony Biddle in the 1967 musical film The Happiest Millionaire. He also appeared in a number of guest roles, including one as a military officer in the short-lived 1967 ABC Western series Custer, starring Wayne Maunder. He also appeared as “Johnny Eagle Eye” on F Troop, which aired on April 12, 1966. Petersen received recording offers and had hit record singles with the songs “She Can’t Find Her Keys” (also introduced on The Donna Reed Show), “Amy,” and “Lollipops and Roses” as a result of his success on The Donna Reed Show.
The sentimental teen pop song “My Dad,” performed by Petersen on The Donna Reed Show in 1962, was dedicated to his on-screen father, actor Carl Betz. When it was released as a single the following year, it peaked at number six on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. He also recorded for Motown/Tamla throughout the 1960s releasing such singles as “Chained” and “A Little Bit For Sandy”. Petersen went to university after his years as a child actor and earned a degree in literature. He later wrote 16 adventure novels. Petersen became an author after meeting David Oliphant, a New York City publisher visiting Los Angeles. His first novel was about car racing.
He serves on the board of the Donna Reed Foundation and works for the Donna Reed Festival, which is held annually in Reed’s hometown of Denison, Iowa, during the third week of June. He has also served on the board of directors of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), a national AFL-CIO union for media performers based in Los Angeles. Following the suicide of former child star Rusty Hamer in 1990, Petersen founded A Minor Consideration, a child-actor support group, to improve working conditions for child actors and to aid in the transition between working as a child actor and adult life, whether in acting or other professions.
Paul Petersen Net Worth
He has an estimated net worth of 3 million dollars.