Peter Jason was born Peter Edward Ostling on July 22 1944 in Hollywood. He grew up on he Balboa Peninsula, Newport Beach. He became interested in acting when he played Sheridan Whiteside in The Man Who Came to Dinner at Newport Harbor High School. He studied acting at Orange Coast College, and then Carnegie Mellon. He played at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Milburn, New Jersey and the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. He was a founding member of the South Coast Repertory Company in Costa Mesa, California.
Peter Jason made his television debut in an episode of Teh F.B.I. in 1968. In the late Sixties he guest starred on Cimarron Strip;Judd, for the Defense; Here Come the Brides; Daniel Boone; Land of the Giants; The Young Lawyers; and Gunsmoke. He made his film debut in Rio Lobo in 1970.
In the Seventies Peter Jason guest starred on the TV shows Hawaii Five-O; Gunsmoke; One Day at a Time; Starsky & Hutch; B.J. and the Bear; The Incredible Hulk; and Hart to Hart. He appeared in the movies The Driver (1978), La ilegal (1979), The Baltimore Bullet (1980), and The Long Riders (1980)
In the Eighties Peter Jason appeared in the movies Beyond the Universe (1981), Nice Dreams (1981), Texas Lightning (1981), Butterfly (1981), Mommie Dearest (1981), Some Kind of Hero (1982), Trick or Treats (1982), 48 Hrs. (1982), Angel (1984), Streets of Fire (1984), The Karate Kid (1984), Dreamscape (1984), Oxford Blues (1984), Impulse (1984), Eat or Be Eaten (1986), Hyper Sapien: People from Another Star (1986), Heartbreak Ridge (1986), Party Camp (1987), Prince of Darkness (1987), Sunset (1988), Red Heat (1988), Alien Nation (1988), They Live (1988), Johnny Handsome (1990), The Hunt for Red October (1990), Arachnophobia (1990), and Marked for Death (1990). He guest starred on the shows Hart to Hart; Filthy Rich; Silver Spoons; Cagney & Lacey; Seven Brides for Seven Brothers; Remington Steele; Webster; Cover Up, Amazing Stories; The Golden Girls; Scarecrow and Mr.s King; Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer; Hard Knocks; Annie McGuire; and Knot's Landing. He appeared in the mini-series The Blue and the Gray.
In the Nineties Peter Jason was a regular on the TV series Mike Hammer, Private Eye. He guest starred on the shows Quantum Leap; Perfect Strangers; Dear John; A Different World; Herman's Head; The Jackie Thomas Show; Rosanne; Married...with Children; Body Bags; Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman; Coach; Murder, She Wrote; Kung Fu:The Legend Contnues; The Naked Truth; Perversions of Science; Women: Stories of Passion; Air America; Nash Bridges; and Titus. He was a guest voice on Batman: the Animated Series, Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child, Pinky and the Brain; and Batman Beyond. He appeared in the movies In the Mouth of Madness (1994), The Demolitionist (1995), The Village of the Damned (1995), Congo (1995), Mortal Kombat (1995), Rage (1995), Wild Bill (1995), Escape from L.A. (1996), The Glimmer Man (1996), Valley Girls (1996), Dante's Peak (1997), Java Heads: The Movie
(2000), and Finding Kelly (2000).
In the Naughts he was a regular on the TV show Deadwood. He guest starred on the shows Titus, JAG, Providence, Carnivale, Significant Others, Arrested Development, Desperate Housewives, John from Cincinnati, Dirty Sexy Money, Mad Men, Castle, NCIS, Raising the Bar, Cold Case, Justified, and Chuck. He appeared in the movies Ghosts of Mars (2001), Hard Cash (2002), The Rose Technique (2002), Undisputed (2002), 13th Child (2002), Adaptation (2002), Detonator (2003), Seabiscuit (2003), Employee of the Month (2004), Hair High (2004), Surviving Christmas (2004), Confessions of an Action Star (2005), Frostbite (2005), Kicking & Screaming (2005), The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (2006), The Enigma with a Stigma (2006), Moving McAllister (2007), Richard III (2007), The Man Who Came Back (2008), The Warden (2008), Intervention (2008), Milk (2008), Falling Up (2009), How to Make Love to a Woman (2010), and Locked In (2010). He was a voice in the English version of The Secret World of Arietty (2010).
In the Teens Peter Jason guest starred on the shows Funny or Die Presents, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, 1600 Penn, Baskets, and Longmire. He appeared in the TV movie Deadwood: The Movie. He appeared in the movies Little Murder (2011), Ghost of New Orleans (2011), From the Head (2011), Son of Morning (2011), Valley of the Sun (2011), Hopelessly in June (2011), Heal Thyself (2012), Students Like Us (2012), Queen City (2013), Willow Creek (2013), Robosapien: Rebooted (2013), Cesar Chavez (2014), Return to Zero (2014), The Condo (2015), River Guard (2016), Hail, Caesar! (2016), The Terror of Hallow's Eve (2017), The Nth Ward (2017), High & Outside: A Baseball Noir (2017), Get Married or Die (2018) Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)., The Other Side of the Wind (2018), Saint Judy (2018) , Daddy Issues (2018), Heavenly Deposit (2019), The Assent (2019), and The Downside of Bliss (2020).
In the 2020s Peter Jason appeared in the movies Deep in the Forest (2021), We Are Gathered Here Today (2022), and Combat Radio: A Christmas Carol (2022).
Peter Jason was a marvellous character actor who could play a wide variety of roles. This can be seen in his collaborations with John Carpenter. In They Live he played Gilbert, one of the leaders of the human resistance. In In the Mouth of Madness he played a character quite unlike the earnest Gilbert, the somewhat dishonest and unscrupulous Mr. Paul. In Prince of Darkness he played yet another sort of character, Dr. Paul Leahy, a scientist who also serves as comic relief.
Beyond his films with John Carpenter, Peter Jason may be best known as dim-witted card dealer and later sheriff Con Stapleton on Deadwood. He played a wide array of roles in his guest appearances. He was the gregarious Playtex executive Len McKenzie in the Mad Men episode "Maidenform." He was the electrician Frank in more than one episode of Nash Bridges. While he often played law enforcement officers, military officers, and coaches, Peter Jason was capable of playing any role in his cast. He consistently gave great performances.
No comments:
Post a Comment