ACTOR REMEMBERED AS COMPASSIONATE MAN
A “SENSITIVE soul” was how Tom Saide described his son, Peter Saide, who passed away last month, aged 36.
Peter called Toowoomba home, despite having lived and worked in New York as an actor for more than one decade.
Peter was born in Brisbane in 1983 and graduated from Downlands College in 2000.
“He was born in Brisbane, but he called Toowoomba home because it was the days of his youth and where he met his best friends,” Tom said.
“He headed from Downlands up to the Mackay Conservatorium of Music where he studied musical theatre for three years.
“While he was in Mackay as a student, a key role (for him) was Anatoli in a musical called Chess.”
Peter followed his love for musical theatre all over the world, heading to Sydney for productions of Jekyll and Hyde and Into the Woods, before heading to Tokyo to take up a role at Tokyo Disneyland.
“He played in a melody of Disney songs in Tokyo for over a year,” Tom said. “He absolutely loved it. “One of the magnificent thing about Peter was if he was offered something, he would do it. It was never about whether it would make him famous, it was about whether he could do a good job.”
Peter travelled to London “for a bit” before landing in New York, where he continued to grow his acting career. One of Peter’s more recent performances was in Last Days of Summer at the George St Playhouse in New Jersey.
“He was a sensitive soul,” Tom said.
“His directors and producers, everyone one of them would say Peter was a person who held the cast together and supported his fellow actors.
“He was very gentle and extraordinarily compassionate.”
By Peter’s side through all of his travels was his best friend, his dog Gunnar.
“Peter’s best friend in the whole world was his dog,” Tom said.
“When companies offered to fly him from the east coast to the west coast of America, he would ask if he could trade it for a rental (car) and he would drive across America with his dog in the car beside him.”
Peter sadly passed away on February 27, after a complication from a blood clot in his leg.
“He had two very risky but successful spinal surgeries to remove a bone that was growing into his spinal column,” Tom said.
“He had a successful rehab, but during his rehab he was diagnosed with a DVT, a blood clot in his leg which was treated.
“He went home from rehab, and a complication from the DVT sent him to the emergency room on February 26.
“His heart stopped he was there, and couldn’t revive him.” while they
Tom said he and his family were hoping to hold a memorial for Peter at Downlands in Toowoomba, and would announce the event as soon as he had further details.