| House Peters Sr. | |
| Birthname: | Robert House Peters |
| Birth Date: | 12 March 1880 |
| Birth Place: | Bristol, England |
| Death Place: | Woodland Hills, California, US |
| Burial Place: | Cremated at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale[1] |
| Occupation: | Actor |
| Spouse: | Mae King (m. 1914) |
| Yearsactive: | 1900s - 1950s |
Robert House Peters Sr. (12 March 1880 - 7 December 1967) was a British-born American silent film actor, known to filmgoers of the era as "The Star of a Thousand Emotions".
Born in Bristol, Gloucestershire, England, Peters began his career on a high note, playing the handsome leading man in In the Bishop's Carriage (1913), co-starring Mary Pickford. While The Bishop's Carriage was filmed in an East Coast studio, Peters was in Los Angeles by 1914, becoming one of the first screen stars to permanently settle there. Although he stated publicly that he preferred playing villains, Peters, curly haired and pleasantly dimpled, was from the outset typecast as the romantic hero.
After enjoying his greatest success as the good-bad hero of The Girl of the Golden West (1915), Peters' career peaked in the early 1920s. He signed with Universal Studios for six films in 1924, hoping for a comeback. The results, however, were mostly mediocre and he was soon demoted to supporting roles. Retired after 1928's Rose Marie, Peters returned for a guest appearance in The Old West, a 1952 Gene Autry film that also featured his son, House Peters Jr., who subsequently enjoyed a lengthy film career portraying villains as well as Procter and Gamble's Mr. Clean character in cleaning product commercials from the late 1950s into the '60s.
Peters was married to actress Mae King in 1914 with whom he had three children, Gregg, Patricia and Robert Jr., who subsequently used the stage name House Peters Jr. Peters was 87 when he died of pneumonia[2] at the Motion Picture Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California.
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1913 | In the Bishop's Carriage | Obermuller | ||
| 1913 | Chelsea 7750 | Prof. Grimble | ||
| 1913 | An Hour Before Dawn | Kate's Father - the Ex-Detective | ||
| 1913 | The Port of Doom | Kate's Father | ||
| 1913 | Leah Kleschna | Paul Sylvain | ||
| 1913 | A Lady of Quality | The Duke of Osmonde | ||
| 1914 | The Pride of Jennico | Basil Jennico | ||
| 1914 | Clothes | Arnold West | ||
| 1914 | The Brute | Billy West | Short | |
| 1914 | Salomy Jane | The Man | ||
| 1914 | Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch | Bob | ||
| 1915 | The Girl of the Golden West | Ramerrez | ||
| 1915 | Mignon | Wilhelm Meister | ||
| 1915 | The Warrens of Virginia | Ned Burton | ||
| 1915 | The Unafraid | Stefan Balsic | Short | |
| 1915 | The Captive | Muhamud Hassan | ||
| 1915 | Stolen Goods | Richard Carlton | ||
| 1915 | Between Men | Gregg Lewiston | ||
| 1915 | The Winged Idol | Jack Leonard | ||
| 1915 | The Great Divide | Stephen Ghent | ||
| 1916 | The Hand of Peril | James Kestner | ||
| 1916 | The Closed Road | Frank Sargeant | ||
| 1916 | The Rail Rider | Jim Lewis | ||
| 1916 | The Velvet Paw | Robert Moorehead | ||
| 1917 | Happiness of Three Women | Billy Craig | ||
| 1917 | As Men Love | Paul Russell | ||
| 1917 | The Lonesome Chap | Stuart Kirkwood | ||
| 1917 | The Highway of Hope | Steve King | ||
| 1917 | The Heir of the Ages | Hugh Payne | ||
| 1919 | The Forfeit | Jeffrey Masters | ||
| 1919 | Thunderbolts of Fate | Robert Wingfield | ||
| 1919 | You Never Know Your Luck | J.G. Kerry | ||
| 1920 | The Great Redeemer | Dan Malloy | ||
| 1920 | The Leopard Woman | John Culbertson | ||
| 1920 | Isobel or The Trail's End | Sgt. William MacVeigh | ||
| 1920 | Silk Husbands and Calico Wives | Deane Kendall | ||
| 1921 | Lying Lips | Blair Cornwall | ||
| 1921 | The Invisible Power | Sid Chambers | ||
| 1921 | The Man from Lost River | Barnes | ||
| 1922 | The Storm | Burr Winton | ||
| 1922 | Rich Men's Wives | John Masters | ||
| 1922 | Human Hearts | Tom Logan | ||
| 1923 | Lost and Found on a South Sea Island | Capt. Blackbird | ||
| 1923 | Don't Marry for Money | Peter Smith | ||
| 1923 | Held to Answer | John Hampstead | ||
| 1924 | The Tornado | Tornado | ||
| 1925 | Head Winds | Peter Rosslyn | ||
| 1925 | Raffles, the Amateur Cracksman | Raffles, the Amateur Cracksman | ||
| 1925 | The Storm Breakers | John Strong | ||
| 1925 | Counsel for the Defense | Arnold Peters | ||
| 1926 | The Combat | Blaze Burke | ||
| 1926 | Prisoners of the Storm | 'Bucky' Malone | ||
| 1928 | Rose-Marie | Sergeant Malone | ||
| 1952 | The Old West | Parson Jonathan Brooks | ||
| 1952 | O. Henry's Full House | Dave Bascom | (segment "The Clarion Call"), Uncredited | |
| 1953 | Treasure of the Golden Condor | Magistrate | Uncredited, (final film role) |