Paul Petersen, The Predatory Spokes Person for Kid Actors

Paul Petersen is known as a leading advocate for the rights of working children. Time Magazine calls him “the predatory spokesman for kid actors” and rightly so, because when there is “trouble” Paul shows up.

A good chunk of America watched Paul Petersen grow up on “The Donna Reed Show” from age 12 to 20 (1958-1966) on ABC playing Jeff Stone. Paul became the “dreaded Bubble Gum Star“, complete with hit records, screaming fans, fast cars and faster women.  He had a lot of fun in an era when you could understand the words to popular music and sex couldn’t kill you. Then when Paul got the bill; the hidden costs, psychologically and emotionally, were more than he could pay at the time.

Paul worked quite a bit before the Donna Reed Show, rising up from the debacle of being a Fired Mouse at age 9 to perform in national commercials, then gradually moving into more important roles on classics like “Playhouse 90,” “Lux Video Theater,” and “Ford Theater.”  

Paul made some terrible choices in his 20’s; drugs, alcohol, bad people and worse associations. Eventually he realized that Mickey Rooney’s advice, (“Get out of town for at least 25 years), was absolutely correct. There is little room in Hollywood for “former kid stars.” Paul made the move back to Connecticut and found new friends and a new outlook. Slowly he began the arduous process of putting himself back together. Today Paul works as an advocate for working children everywhere they labor. http://www.minorcon.org/