Peter Graves, Man; Husband; Father and Actor

 'Highschool'  3 Now he was torn. Time spent out in the field practicing his technique and preparing for the various meets, meant he had less and less time for his first love, music. He wanted to try to fit both in, but his coach took him aside and said to him…. By the time Peter turned 15, he became one of the youngest members of the Musicians Union and at 16 took another job as a radio announcer for WMIN in Minneapolis.  (Interestingly this event may have helped him to get an early uncredited part in the film ‘Up Front’ 1951, where he gave voice to the announcer on the radio in the locker room.) By the time he was due to Graduate the Southwest High School in 1944, the Southwest Wagistanian year book highlighted him as ... PETER AURNESS, 'That man has talent to spare', Class Day, Track captain, Radio club, 'S' club (track and field). But his first thought, like so many young people at that time, was to sign up, as WW2 was still raging overseas and showing no si...

 'Highschool'  2 His love of music started to pull him in another direction and he began to make money playing in dance halls. At the same time, he also started competing in Athletics races and won the state championships in the 120 yard High Hurdles in his second year. His coach didn’t approve of his job as a musician who played music late into the night in smokey halls that may end up damaging his lungs and reducing his lung capacity.  The text that goes with this picture, is below. During the late 1930s and for most of the 1940s, Minneapolis high schools dominated the Minnesota boys state track and field meet, with a Minneapolis team winning the championship 12 consecutive years. In 1943 and 1944, an athlete from Minneapolis Southwest dominated one event – the 120 yard high hurdles – winning two state titles. The athlete was named Peter Aurness. In 1943, at the University of Minnesota’s Memorial Stadium, Aurness won the event with a time of 15.5 seconds to help S...

 'Highschool' 1 Both boys grew like weeds through High School, and suffered some bullying because of it. It may have been the cause of why James slowly lost interest in scholarly pursuits and began to search wider afield to satisfy his thirst for life. Peter meanwhile, was eager to learn, and managed to put the bullying behind him, and along with his growing interest in music, he developed a love of all things ‘sport’ related.   Track and field caught his main interest, (pic 1 and 2) and he served a term on the school's Athletic Board (pic 3). As before his pursued them  with the same eagerness and determination that he had with all his pursuits. The following pictures taken from the 1943 Southwest Year Book

Hi, this is a new platform for me and you will have to bear with me. I consider myself to be more of a researcher than a writer, but after almost 5 years of research, now seems the right time to put pen to paper, so-to-speak. I have accumulated a wealth of information and photographs many of which have not been seen before, and many that have been seen but with no context. I have countless articles and interviews that I would love to share with you, but I fear it will be a slow process as I also run a Facebook page. For today I will leave you with a promotional photo from 'Fury', his first TV series 1955 - 1960.