Peter Hansen (actor)

Peter Hansen (born December 5, 1921) is an American actor, best known for his role as a lawyer, Lee Baldwin, on the soap opera General Hospital, playing the role from 1965 to 1976, 1977 to 1986, briefly in 1990, and again from 1992 to 2004. During the first decade of "GH", along with the character of Dr. Steve Hardy, Lee was one of the show's leading men, and after a brief hiatus from March 1976-January 1977, he was brought back due to fan outcry over his dismissal. In the mid 1980s, Lee was one of many veteran characters written out due to a change in storyline focus. However, when the character of Lee's son, Scotty, returned, Peter was brought back on a recurring basis. In 1997, he began playing the character on the sister show Port Charles. The early years of "Port Charles" saw the Baldwins as the core family, focusing on Lee's son, Scotty, and granddaughter, Karen. After their storyline took them back to "GH", Peter made occasional appearances on both shows, last appearing at Lila Quartermain's funeral in 2004. Although he retired from acting afterwards, he did appear at the off-screen 50th Anniversary party in 2013 along with former on-screen wife Susan Brown.

Hansen has appeared in more than 100 films, television series and made-for-television movies. His early acting roles included being a guest star on Reed Hadley's CBS crime drama, The Public Defender, and the television adaptation of Gertrude Berg's comedy The Goldbergs. In addition to his work on General Hospital, he notably co-starred in 1963 on the NBC soap opera Ben Jerrod. He also appeared on The Golden Girls in 1985 (Season 1, Episode 5) as Elliott Clayton, a casanova who makes a pass at Blanche while dating Dorothy. In 1988, he starred in an episode of Cheers ("And God Created Woodman"; Season 6, Episode 14), as Daniel T. Collier, the CEO and Chairman of the Board of Lillian, the company which owns Cheers. Other notable appearances include work on Broken Arrow, Richard Diamond, Private Detective, Maverick, Petticoat Junction, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., How The West Was Won, Magnum, P.I., L.A. Law, Night Court, and Growing Pains.

He had a major role in the 1951 science fiction film When Worlds Collide.

Peter served as a United States Marine Corps aviator in World War II. He flew F4U Corsairs and participated in the invasion of Peleliu in September 1944.

In the 1960s Peter made commercials for Chrysler products appearing on the Lawrence Welk show. He resided in Reseda California with his family .