Lauri Peters

Lauri Peters, born Patti Peterson in July 1943, is an American actress and dancer whose work spans theatre, film, and television. She was raised in Cleveland, Ohio, where her family relocated from Detroit, Michigan when she was approximately one year old. The daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Harold Peterson, she grew up with three older brothers — Harold Jr., Victor, and Sidney. Peters began studying dance at a young age and eventually moved to New York City as a teenager to pursue ballet training.

Peters made her Broadway debut in 1958 as a replacement in the children's ensemble of Say, Darling, performing under the name Laurie Peterson, a variation necessitated by an existing Actors Equity registration under her birth name Patti Peterson. Say, Darling closed in January 1959, and within two months Peters appeared in her second Broadway production, First Impressions, in which she played Kitty Bennet and received billing under the name Lauri Peters. That same year, in the fall of 1959, she originated the role of Liesl Von Trapp in the Broadway premiere of The Sound of Music. The performance earned her a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical, shared with her castmates playing the other Von Trapp children. Peters can be heard on the production's original cast album, which has sold more than three million copies in the United States. It was during the run of The Sound of Music that she met actor Jon Voight, who joined the cast as Rolfe; the two were married in 1962 and divorced in 1967.

Peters continued her Broadway career with A Murderer Among Us in 1964, in which she played Louisette, and concluded her Broadway work in 1968 with Choephori, listed in production records as The House of Atreus, where she appeared as Handmaiden, Chorus, and Singer. She received a Theatre World Award in 1960. Beyond Broadway, Peters appeared in the 1964 off-Broadway revival of Marc Blitzstein's The Cradle Will Rock, directed by Howard Da Silva, playing the role of Moll.

Her film work includes the 1963 British production Summer Holiday, in which she starred opposite Cliff Richard. She also appeared in films alongside Fabian, James Stewart, and Sidney Poitier. On television, Peters was featured in multiple episodes of Gunsmoke during the 1960s, including the 1964 episode "Mayblossom" and a subsequent appearance as Allie in "Take Her, She's Cheap."

Later in her career, Peters shifted toward arts education. In 1993, she co-founded the Meisner Extension at New York University with acting teacher Sanford Meisner, where she served as artistic director and master teacher. She has also authored a book on the Meisner technique.