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Paul Petersen
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Paul Petersen (born William Paul Petersen, 23 September 1945, in Glendale, California) is an American movie actor, singer, novelist, and activist for child stars.
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Petersen started out in show business at the age of ten when he became a "Mousketeer" on the Mickey Mouse Club. However, he achieved stardom as a teenage heartthrob on The Donna Reed Show, an ABC family sitcom that ran from 1958 to 1966.
Petersen's fame brought recording offers and although his singing voice was limited, he had hit record singles with songs such as "My Dad", "She Can't Find Her Keys", "Amy", and "Lollipops and Roses" that made it into the Billboard Hot 100.
Difficult times followed his almost instantaneous disappearance from the Hollywood spotlight. As a result, Petersen returned to university and obtained a degree in literature that helped him to go on to write sixteen adventure novels.
Petersen's authorship began after he met David Oliphant, a New York publisher visiting Los Angeles. His first novel concerned car racing. Thereafter, he created a Matt Helm-type hero, Eric Saveman, also known as "The Smuggler." In one year, Pocket Books published eight of his Smuggler novels, earning Petersen $75,000.
In 1990, he founded the child-actor support group called A Minor Consideration.