Nicholas Hammond

Nicholas Hammond
Hammond as Peter Parker, 1977
Born	(1950-05-15) May 15, 1950 (age 66) Washington, D.C., US
Years active	1962–2016
Spouse(s)	Laura Soli (m. 1980–84)
Partner(s)	Robyn Nevin

Nicholas Hammond (born May 15, 1950) is an American actor and writer who is perhaps best known for his roles as Friedrich von Trapp in the film The Sound of Music, and as Peter Parker/Spider-Man on the CBS television series The Amazing Spider-Man.

Hammond was born in Washington, D.C., the son of Col. Thomas West Hammond, Jr. by his wife Eileen Hammond, née Bennett. While Hammond's father was a US citizen and an officer in the US Army, his mother was an Englishwoman who had played a role in a theatre play, namely Much Too Shy, in 1942. Hammond has one elder brother, David (b. 1946). Hammond's parents had met and married in London during the War, when his father had been posted there. After the war, the couple had moved to the US permanently, and since the Colonel had a transferrable army job, the family moved numerous times to various army stations across the country during Hammond's childhood. The Colonel, whom Hammond adored, died in 1970.

Hammond was less than 10 years old when he made his acting debut in the Broadway play The Complaisant Lover in 1961. At the same time, he began to shoot for the 1963 film Lord of the Flies, which marked his film debut. After this, Hammond made what was to be his most visible screen role for many years, as Friedrich von Trapp (the elder of the two boys) in the 1965 hit The Sound of Music.

Hammond's next acting role came in 1970, when he appeared in his second Broadway play, Conduct Unbecoming. This was his first role as an adult. In 1972, Hammond appeared as Peter Linder in Skyjacked. In 1973, he made a guest appearance on The Brady Bunch, in the fourth-season episode #090 "The Subject Was Noses", as the high school hunk Doug Simpson who loses interest in Marcia after her tragic football accident. That year he also appeared in an episode of The Waltons, called "The Townie" as Theodore Claypool, Jr. After making the transition from juvenile to young leading man, he spent several seasons in daytime soaps such as General Hospital. He also appeared on many television shows of the 1970s including Hawaii Five-O.