10-02-2008, 05:17 PM
TV's "Mr. Clean" dies at age 92
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The actor who played muscular "Mr. Clean" in hundreds of dirt-busting television commercials in the late 1950s and early 1960s, has died in Los Angeles at the age of 92, his family said.
House Peters Jr.'s bald-head, hoop earring and brawny arms was the original public face of Proctor & Gamble's household cleaners with the jingle "Mr. Clean, Mr. Clean." He died of pneumonia on Wednesday, his family said.
Born into an acting family, House Peters Jr. started his career in silent movies - playing the lead Shark Man in the 1936 Flash Gordon serial - and later made a name for himself with character parts, often as the muscled villain, in dozens of TV and movie westerns including "Wagon Train", "Gunsmoke" and "The Lone Ranger."
He won a Golden Boot award in 2000 for his lifetime contribution to the western genre.
When he began his acting career, Peters swore that if he hadn't become a star by age 50, he would quit show business. Peters kept his word -- in 1966, with nothing but a recurring role as Sheriff Jim Billings on Lassie ahead of him, he left acting and began a successful career in real estate.
He is survived by his wife, three children and four grandchildren.
'50s Mr. Clean TV commercial
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The actor who played muscular "Mr. Clean" in hundreds of dirt-busting television commercials in the late 1950s and early 1960s, has died in Los Angeles at the age of 92, his family said.
House Peters Jr.'s bald-head, hoop earring and brawny arms was the original public face of Proctor & Gamble's household cleaners with the jingle "Mr. Clean, Mr. Clean." He died of pneumonia on Wednesday, his family said.
Born into an acting family, House Peters Jr. started his career in silent movies - playing the lead Shark Man in the 1936 Flash Gordon serial - and later made a name for himself with character parts, often as the muscled villain, in dozens of TV and movie westerns including "Wagon Train", "Gunsmoke" and "The Lone Ranger."
He won a Golden Boot award in 2000 for his lifetime contribution to the western genre.
When he began his acting career, Peters swore that if he hadn't become a star by age 50, he would quit show business. Peters kept his word -- in 1966, with nothing but a recurring role as Sheriff Jim Billings on Lassie ahead of him, he left acting and began a successful career in real estate.
He is survived by his wife, three children and four grandchildren.
'50s Mr. Clean TV commercial
Ooops, I crapped my pants