Peter Breck

He moved to Vancouver, Canada, in the mid-80s with his wife Diana and their son, Christopher. Christopher died of acute myeloid in his 20s, after fighting the disease for two years.

A club singer in Houston, TX, back in his early days.

Served in the US Navy, one of his postings being on the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Stepfather was Al Weber, who was the sports editor of the Rochester Times-Union in Rochester, NY.

His parents divorced and remarried when he was quite young. Had a younger half-brother, Georgie, who died at age 24 of heart problems, from his fathers remarriage, and two sisters, Judith and Virginia, from his mothers remarriage.

He wrote a column for "Wildest Westerns" magazine.

Best known for his starring role as Nick Barkley on "The Big Valley" .

For the last ten years of his life he suffered from dementia. On January 10, 2012, he went into the hospital. He passed very peacefully on February 6.

After moving to Vancouver, Breck was asked by a casting director if he would consider teaching young actors about the film technique, one class a week. The class grew and he would eventually found The Breck Academy, an acting school which he was operating.

Son of a traveling jazz musician. He was raised by his grandparents in Haverhill, MA. He served in the US Navy. After his naval service he studied drama and English at the University of Houston in Houston, TX, where he performed in theater productions at the Alley Theater before moving to the Arena Theater in Washington, DC, where Robert Mitchum saw him in George Bernard Shaw s play, "Man of Destiny," and offered him a small role in his next film, Thunder Road .

James Drury reported that Breck had a photographic memory, and that he only had to go over the script a couple of times before he had the entire thing memorized.

According to "Wildest Westerns Magazine", Breck was able to draw his gun in 16/100th of a second, making the character of Nick Barkley the fastest draw in television history.