Peter Ronson (April 22 1934 - January 16 2007), born Pétur Rögnvaldsson, was an Iceland-born athlete and actor.
He competed in 110 metres hurdles at the 1960 Summer Olympics. As an actor he played "Hans" in the 1959 film adaptation of Journey to the Center of the Earth.
He died of natural causes in Orange County, California. He had two sons, Brian and Stephen, with his wife Marie. by a previous relationship, he had 3 other children.
Born in Iceland, Peter began running track at a young age. He excelled in this sport and in his late teens was on the Icelandic National Team for the decathlon. He held several national records. While competing in Europe, he met a runner from the United States who was currently attending and competing for USC. After talking, the USC track athlete asked him if he would ever consider coming to the United States to run for USC. Peter said he would love to and after talking to the coach, Peter began attending USC on a full scholarship. He came to the United States with his 3 children (Lisa, Petur Jr., and Kristine). While at USC (being in the right place at the right time) casting for a movie was being done [Journey to the Center of the Earth] and the producer was having a hard time finding someone to play Hans [a tall, strong Icelandic native]. One of the producer's colleagues had a son who went to USC. At a social event the son of the producer's colleague learned about the trouble the producer was having finding someone to play Hans. You can guess what happens from here. The colleague's son was on the track team as well and told the producer "I have the perfect person for the part." An audition was arranged and Peter soon went to try out for the part. He was immediately cast in the role of Hans. After the movie was filmed, Peter was offered a long-term acting contract that he turned down. He felt that after making the movie he had no privacy and did not want to live a life in the public eye. Later on, Peter competed in the 1960 Rome Olympics for Iceland in the 110-Meter Hurdles. Since then he married a Southern California native (of Danish decent) Marie George (now Marie Ronson) and had two more sons, Brian and Stephen. Both are currently licensed physicians in Southern California and are very proud of their father.
