Peter Helm

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Peter John Helm, Jr.​ (Canadian-American actor of film and television)
Born	December 22, 1941 Toronto, Ontario, Canada Parents: Peter Helm, Sr. (died c. 1950) Isabel Helm ___ (remarried) Sister: Anne I. Helm (actress)

Peter John Helm, Jr. (born December 22, 1941), is a former actor originally from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, who appeared on American television from 1960 to 1971.​ ​

Background

Helm has an older sister, actress Anne I. Helm (born 1938). Their father, a banker, died about 1950, and Mrs. Helm remarried. Peter and Anne have a half-brother born in 1952 from their mother's second marriage. Helm was known for his passion of driving numerous Ferrari automobiles.​ ​

Career

Peter Helm's first television role was in September 1960, the same month that his inheritance was announced. He played an unnamed 19-year-old delivery boy in the second episode "Crime of Passion" of the CBS situation comedy, Pete and Gladys, starring Harry Morgan and Cara Williams. In 1961, Helm appeared in "The Editor's Daughter" episode of Robert Young's CBS comedy/drama, Window on Main Street. He appeared in 1961 in Richard Chamberlain's NBC medical drama, Dr. Kildare, in the role of Tommy Rainey in the segment "For the Living." That same year he was cast in the episode "Very Hard Sell" of the NBC police drama, 87th Precinct, in the role of Andy Cornell, son of a used car dealer (Tom Greenway), who is found dead.​

In 1962, Helm appeared as a young GI in the war picture The Longest Day. That same year he was cast with Dale Robertson in “To Save a Town,” an episode of the western series, Tales of Wells Fargo. That same year he was also cast as Ted Hailey in “Rendezvous in Washington’’ on CBS's drama Checkmate with Anthony George, Doug McClure, and Sebastian Cabot, and as Frank Murphy in “A Matter of Principle” on ABC's drama about the Roman Catholic priesthood, Going My Way. In 1963, Helm guest starred as Orin Prentice in “The Wings of the Morning” on the NBC drama about psychiatry, The Eleventh Hour. His sister Anne appeared in another episode of The Eleventh Hour.​

In 1962-1963, Helm appeared three times on the NBC western Wagon Train in episodes entitled “The Daniel Clay Story,” “The Wagon Train Mutiny,” and “The Tom O’Neal Story," in the lead guest-starring role in the latter appearance, with Myron Healey cast as his father. In 1963, he was cast as Todd in "A Girl Named Amy" of the modern ABC western series, Stoney Burke, starring Jack Lord, and in the role of the character “Grover” in the episode “Incident at Paradise” of the CBS western, Rawhide with Eric Fleming and Clint Eastwood. In 1963, he played a young reporter named Johnny Peters in the episode “Smoke Screen” of the ABC drama The Fugitive, starring David Janssen as the fictitious Dr. Richard Kimble.​ ​

Later roles

​ In 1964, Helm appeared in two ABC series: as Paul in “A Rich, Famous, Glamorous Folk Singer Like Me” of Channing, a drama about college life starring Jason Evers, and as Laslo in “The Glory Among Men” of Combat!, a World War II drama. He appeared three times on the NBC drama, Mr. Novak, starring James Franciscus as a high school English teacher. He appeared five years apart on ABC’s The Donna Reed Show as Danny in “The Love Letter” (1960) and as Walter Gordon in “The Unheroic Hero” (1965). He appeared also in 1965 as Norman Quigley in “The Leopard’s Spots” episode of My Three Sons, starring Fred MacMurray, in one of the last episodes while the series was still aired on ABC.​

Other Helm roles in 1965 were as Bob Hyatt in “The Case of the Cheating Chancellor” of CBS’s Perry Mason, starring Raymond Burr. He played a character called “Gwylem” of NBC's Bonanza in the episode “Devil on Her Shoulder.” He was Milton Hopwood in the film, Inside Daisy Clover, starring Natalie Wood. In 1966, he guest starred on ABC’s short-lived western, The Legend of Jesse James as Zeb Hicks in the episode “The Cave.” That same year, he was Sheldon Carp in “At Home with the Family” of the NBC series Please Don't Eat the Daisies. His final appearances were on NBC's Ironside in 1967 as Alfred Dunne in “A Very Cool Hot Car,” as Richard in “The Arrangement” in 1970 of ABC’s Make Room for Granddaddy, starring Danny Thomas, and in the episode “Rookie” of Henry Fonda's 1971 series, The Smith Family. He also appeared as Sergeant Crane in the 1971 film The Andromeda Strain.​

In 1965, Helm starred in an unsold pilot for a television series called See Here, Private Hargrove, based on producer Marion Hargrove's experiences adjusting to military life during World War II. Helm thereafter worked in film production in such later pictures as Bring It On, All or Nothing, and the horror story, Drag Me to Hell.

References

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