Peter Hansen (December 5, 1921 – April 9, 2017) was a beloved American actor, best known to generations of daytime television viewers for his decades-long, Emmy-winning role as the upstanding lawyer Lee Baldwin on the ABC soap opera, General Hospital.
Before becoming a soap opera icon, Hansen was a contract player at Paramount Pictures in the 1950s. During this time, he appeared in numerous films, with his most memorable roles coming in classic science-fiction, playing a scientist trying to save humanity in the apocalyptic epic When Worlds Collide (1951) and appearing in Cecil B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments (1956).
In 1963, he originated the role of Lee Baldwin on General Hospital, a character he would play off and on for over 40 years. As one of the show’s most respected and dependable patriarchs, his performance earned him the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in 1979, cementing his legacy as a true television institution.