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IMDbPro

Pete Seeger(1919-2014)

  • Composer
  • Music Department
  • Actor
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank
Pete Seeger
Trailer for Rooted in Peace
 
Play trailer2:32
Rooted in Peace (2016)
3 Videos
20 Photos
Sixteen-year-old Pete Seeger enrolled at the Avon Old Farms School in Connecticut and then decided to become a hermit. His life since then has been one social cause after another, buoyed by an almost indefatigable career as a self-described "sing-along leader."

During the 1930s he attended Harvard, from which his musicologist father Charles Seeger (a member of the Industrial Workers of the World and a conscientious objector during World War I) had graduated in 1908. As an alternative to his major, Sociology (which he disliked), he played tenor banjo (failing to make the Harvard Jazz Band) and participated in the pacifist/communist Harvard Student Union so much that he lost his scholarship, leaving Harvard in 1938. In 1939 actor/folksinger 'Will Geer' organized the "All-American Left-Wing Folk-Song Revival Movement," a benefit concert for migrant workers in California. It was there that Pete met Woody Guthrie and began touring with him. In 1940 Seeger started the Almanac Singers with Lee Hays, Pete Hawes and Millard Lampell; during his tours with this pro-union, anti-war group the FBI began a file on him. The group broke up at the start of World War II (Seeger enlisted in the army; Guthrie entered the Merchant Marine). After the war he started People's Songs (later Sing Out!), and in 1949 formed a new group, The Weavers, with Lee Hays, Fred Hellerman and Ronnie Gilbert'. For years he had trouble with the House UnAmerican Activities Committee and was, effectively, blacklisted. He recorded dozens of albums (Columbia, Folkways) and wrote thousands of songs, among which are "Where Have All the Flowers Gone," "If I Had a Hammer," and "Turn, Turn, Turn" (which in the 1960s became a huge hit for The Byrds). He helped start the Greenwich Village music magazine Broadside in the 1960s and reorganized the Newport Folk Festival. In 1996 the North American Folk Music and Dance Alliance awarded him its first Lifetime Achievement Award. He helped start Clearwater, an organization which sails a 106-foot boat along the Hudson River to show children the dangers of pollution.
BornMay 3, 1919
DiedJanuary 27, 2014(94)
BornMay 3, 1919
DiedJanuary 27, 2014(94)
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank
  • Awards
    • 5 wins & 12 nominations total

Photos20

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Known for

Sean Connery and Laurence Fishburne in Just Cause (1995)
Just Cause
6.4
  • Soundtrack("Guantanamera")
  • 1995
Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump (1994)
Forrest Gump
8.8
  • Soundtrack("Turn, Turn, Turn! (To Everything There is a Season)", "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?")
  • 1994
Sam Rockwell in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002)
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
7.0
  • Soundtrack("If I Had a Hammer (The Hammer Song)")
  • 2002
Imelda Staunton, Paddy Considine, Bill Nighy, Andrew Scott, Dominic West, George MacKay, Ben Schnetzer, and Faye Marsay in Pride (2014)
Pride
7.8
  • Soundtrack("Solidarity Forever")
  • 2014

Credits

Edit
IMDbPro

Composer



  • Anna Southerland and Molly McDaniel in Summertime Girls (2024)
    Summertime Girls
    Short
    • Composer
    • 2024
  • Along the Erie Canal (1998)
    Along the Erie Canal
    7.8
    Short
    • Composer
    • 1998
  • Harry Bridges: A Man and His Union
    • Composer
    • 1992
  • Rien qu'une petite chanson d'amour
    Short
    • Composer
    • 1974
  • The Foolish Frog
    7.7
    Short
    • Composer
    • 1971
  • Gavilan
    • Composer
    • 1968
  • Silvo Lahtela in Silvo (1967)
    Silvo
    6.3
    Short
    • Composer
    • 1967
  • The March in Washington
    Short
    • Composer
    • 1963
  • Lines: Horizontal (1962)
    Lines: Horizontal
    6.8
    Short
    • Composer
    • 1962
  • Cattle Ranch (1961)
    Cattle Ranch
    Short
    • Composer
    • 1961
  • Indian Summer (1960)
    Indian Summer
    8.8
    Short
    • Composer
    • 1960
  • The Candid Eye (1958)
    The Candid Eye
    TV Series
    • Composer
    • 1959

Music Department



  • Movie Night Extravaganza (2021)
    Movie Night Extravaganza
    6.9
    TV Series
    • theme music composer
    • 2022
  • Eldon Rathburn: They Shoot... He Scores (1995)
    Eldon Rathburn: They Shoot... He Scores
    • music composer: "End Of The Line"
    • 1995
  • Songs for Ralph (1995)
    Songs for Ralph
    • singer
    • 1995
  • The Great American Dream Machine (1971)
    The Great American Dream Machine
    8.0
    TV Series
    • singing voice
    • 1971
  • Cattle Ranch (1961)
    Cattle Ranch
    Short
    • music arranger
    • music performer (as Peter Seeger)
    • 1961
  • Indian Summer (1960)
    Indian Summer
    8.8
    Short
    • musician
    • 1960

Actor



  • Inside the Music (2009)
    Inside the Music
    TV Series
    • Narrator
    • 2009
  • Cellabration Live! a Tribute to Ella Jenkins (2007)
    Cellabration Live! a Tribute to Ella Jenkins
    Video
    • 2007
  • The Foolish Frog
    7.7
    Short
    • Narrator (voice)
    • 1971
  • Liza Minnelli in Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon (1970)
    Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon
    6.1
    • Pete Seeger
    • 1970
  • Alice's Restaurant (1969)
    Alice's Restaurant
    6.3
    • Pete Seeger
    • 1969

  • In-development projects at IMDbPro

Videos3

Along The Erie Canal
Full Movie 2:29
Along The Erie Canal
Official Trailer
Trailer 3:37
Official Trailer
3
Official Trailer
Trailer 3:37
Official Trailer
3
Rooted in Peace
Trailer 2:32
Rooted in Peace

Personal details

Edit
  • Alternative names
    • Peter Seeger
  • Height
    • 6′ 3″ (1.91 m)
  • Born
    • May 3, 1919
    • Patterson, New York, USA
  • Died
    • January 27, 2014
    • New York City, New York, USA(natural causes)
  • Spouse
    • Toshi SeegerJuly 20, 1943 - July 9, 2013 (her death, 3 children)
  • Children
      Tinya Seeger
  • Parents
      Charles Louis Seeger Jr.
  • Relatives
      John Jacob Seeger(Sibling)
  • Other works
    CD: "Clearwater Classics" (SSP)
  • Publicity listings
    • 2 Print Biographies
    • 2 Portrayals
    • 1 Interview
    • 14 Articles
    • 1 Pictorial

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    He was one of Bob Dylan's biggest advocates among the folk scene. When Dylan went "electric" (with a backing band) at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965, however, Seeger was reported to be enraged and even, some claim, tried to severe the power to the amplifiers with an ax. Seeger, for his part, said this never happened but admitted to being annoyed at the time, not because Dylan was "turning his back" on folk music but because he and his friends couldn't hear any of the words over the rock music on what they felt was an overly loud, poorly mixed sound-system.
  • Quotes
    (About his songs) "Some may find them merely diverting melodies. Others may find them incitements to Red revolution. And who will say if either or both is wrong? Not I." - (Interview: "Rolling Stone Magazine"; April 13, 1972)
  • Trademark
      Folksy singing style and banjo playing

FAQ

Powered by Alexa
  • When did Pete Seeger die?
    January 27, 2014
  • How did Pete Seeger die?
    Natural causes
  • How old was Pete Seeger when he died?
    94 years old
  • Where did Pete Seeger die?
    New York City, New York, USA
  • When was Pete Seeger born?
    May 3, 1919

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