American actor Peter Baldwin was signed by Paramount Studios in the early 1950s as one of Paramount's "Golden Circle of Newcomers." As such, Baldwin was assured a steady paycheck with such Paramount productions as The Girls of Pleasure Island (1953), Stalag 17 (1953) (in which, as an escaping POW, he was killed off in the first reel), Houdini (1953) and Little Boy Lost (1958). No longer a newcomer, but not yet a star, Baldwin remained at his home studio until 1959, appearing fleetingly in The Tin Star (1957), Teacher's Pet (1958) and other films. Understandably dissatisfied with his dead-end performing career, Baldwin became a prolific TV director (Love American Style, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Carter Country), ultimately winning a 1988 Emmy for his work on The Wonder Years. As a screenwriter, Peter Baldwin was one of four scriveners credited on the Marcello Mastroianni-Faye Dunaway starrer A Place for Lovers (1969).
by Hal Erickson
biography
