Mr. Peterson, a resident of St. George for the past two years, reportedly substituted for Goulet more than 70 times in 1961, and eventually took over the role of Lancelot for eight months and played the show's national tour.

The Omaha, NE, native moved to Salt Lake City at the age of 10 and attended the University of Utah before going to New York to study voice and opera at Juilliard School of Music. He was singing with the Metropolitan Opera Studio when he auditioned for Camelot, the paper reported. He landed the chorus job and became understudy for the baritone role of Lancelot, the part that made Robert Goulet a star.

Mr. Peterson's was an artist-in-residence and adjunct theatre professor for the University of Utah's theatre department.

He was a regular actor with Salt Lake's Pioneer Theatre Company, including starring roles in Guys and Dolls, My Fair Lady, South Pacific, and Camelot. He performed four different productions of Man of La Mancha in Utah, including for Pioneer (1995) and Utah Shakespearean Festival (2002), the latter when he was 70. In 1998 he received of Utah's Governor's Award in the Arts.