Peter Cookson (May 8, 1913 - January 6, 1990) was a stage and film actor of the 1940s and 1950s.

Career

Cookson was born in Milwaukie, Oregon, and attended the Pasadena Playhouse on a scholarship.

He appeared in the play The Heiress on Broadway in 1947, where he met his wife to-be, Beatrice Straight. He was also a producer and produced the play The Innocents on Broadway in 1950, starring his wife. Cookson's most famous stage role was of the love struck judge in Cole Porter's 1953 musical Can Can in which he introduced the song "It's All Right With Me." "In interviews at the time, he said he was astonished at being given the part, as he had not sung for an audience since high school."

Cookson starred in several feature films during the 1940s, including G. I. Honeymoon (1945) and Fear, before moving exclusively to television during the following decade.

He was a founding member of The Actors Studio (as was his second wife Beatrice Straight).

Selected filmography

• Detective Kitty O'Day (1944)
• Adventures of Kitty O'Day (1945)

[ Source: Wikipedia ]