Background
Louis Peterson was born on June 17, 1922 in Hartford, Connecticut, United States. His father was Louis Peterson, Sr., and his mother was Ruth Conover Peterson, who both worked in the banking business.
Louis Peterson was born on June 17, 1922 in Hartford, Connecticut, United States. His father was Louis Peterson, Sr., and his mother was Ruth Conover Peterson, who both worked in the banking business.
Peterson first planned to get a degree in music. In 1944 he graduated from Morehouse College earning a Bachelor of Arts in English. In college he became involved in the Little Theatre and performed onstage. He attended Yale University from 1944 to 1945, and then earned an Master of Arts in drama from New York University in 1947. He also studied playwriting at the Actors Studio.
In New York Peterson performed in Off-Broadway plays. His first play, Take a Giant Step, was written while he was touring as an actor and stage manager in Carson McCullers’ play, The Member of the Wedding.
It was a significant step in Peterson's career when his first full-length play, Take a Giant Step, opened on Broadway in 1953. The play was welcomed with critical acclaim. In 1954, it was revived off-Broadway for 246 performances.
Peterson went on to write scripts for TV and film. He wrote an episode of the TV series Danger, entitled ”Padlocks” that starred James Dean. In 1956, he wrote Joey, which starred Anthony Perkins and Kim Stanley.
In addition, Peterson wrote film screenplays, and was the first African-American screenwriter in Hollywood. In the 1960s, Peterson left Hollywood. In 1962, Peterson’s play Entertain a Ghost opened off-Broadway at the Actors Playhouse. In 1972, he began teaching in the theatre arts department at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. While teaching, he wrote a screenplay The Confessions of Nat Turner, and a play Crazy Horse, which was produced at the Henry Street Settlement's New Federal Theatre.
Peterson retired from teaching at Stony Brook in 1993, but continued writing.
On July 21, 1952, Louis married Peggy Feury. The marriage ended after nine years in 1961.