Film & TV / Music / Civil rights & activism
Paul Petersen
born 1945 · actor, singer, writer, child-actor advocate
The Donna Reed Show's Jeff Stone, who recorded singles for Detroit's Motown label in the late 1960s and later became a leading advocate for child performers.
- Born
Glendale, California
age 81- Detroit years
- 1967–1968 (Motown recordings)
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Paul Petersen grew up in California and became one of television's best-known teenagers as Jeff Stone on The Donna Reed Show (1958–1966), where he also launched a pop singing career with hits on Colpix. As the show ended he moved to Berry Gordy's Motown, then still based in Detroit, and in 1967–1968 released singles on the label, including "Chained" and "A Little Bit for Sandy". Session records published by Motown in 2018 show that at least one backing track cut at the company's Golden World studio in Detroit was reassigned to him for his vocal. The records did not chart strongly, and his Detroit chapter was short. Petersen later wrote novels and, in 1990, founded A Minor Consideration, which campaigns for the rights and welfare of former and working child actors.
Highlights
- Jeff Stone in The Donna Reed Show (1958–1966)
- Motown singles "Chained" and "A Little Bit for Sandy" (1967–1968)
- Founder of A Minor Consideration, a child-actor advocacy group (1990)