Peter Greene, the actor best known for playing dangerous, unpredictable characters in films like Pulp Fiction and The Mask, has died at 60. According to Deadline, Greene was found dead on Friday, December 12, inside his Manhattan apartment. His manager Gregg Edwards confirmed the death to the outlet. No cause has been released as of now.
Greene was never a conventional leading man. He made a career out of roles that felt slightly off-balance, sometimes frightening, sometimes sad, often both.
Life and journey of Peter Greene
Born October 8, 1965, in Montclair, New Jersey, Greene’s first screen appearance came in 1990 on NBC’s crime drama Hardball. Two years later, he worked in his first feature role in Laws of Gravity and shared the screen with Edie Falco.
Things moved quickly after that. In 1993, Greene took the lead in Clean, Shaven, a stark, uncomfortable film that earned attention on the festival circuit. The movie screened at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival and helped establish him as a promising actor.
The roles that defined Peter Greene
The year 1994 changed everything. Greene played Zed in Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction. The film won the Palme d’Or at Cannes and became a cultural marker. Greene’s role, brief but brutal, was a big part of the film’s success.
That same year, he appeared opposite Jim Carrey in The Mask as Dorian Tyrell, the film’s main villain. From then on, Greene stayed busy, bouncing between studio films and smaller projects.
His other popular films include The Usual Suspects, Training Day, Blue Streak, End Game and The Bounty Hunter. On television, he was a regular on NBC’s The Black Donnellys and had recurring roles on Life on Mars and Chicago P.D. His most recent screen appearance was in an episode of The Continental, the John Wick prequel series.
Peter Greene’s final projects
Greene was still lining up projects. His manager said he had two upcoming releases, including Mascots with Mickey Rourke and a documentary he was narrating titled From the American People: The Withdrawal of USAID, which also involved Jason Alexander and Kathleen Turner.
“He was one of the best character actors on the planet,” Edwards told Deadline.
He added that Greene cared deeply about the documentary’s subject matter. “He was passionate about shedding light on all the deaths that have happened around the world as a result of America dismantling USAID,” he said.
On a personal level, Edwards described Greene saying, “He was a good friend who would give you the shirt off his back. He was loved and will be missed.”
Greene is survived by a brother and a sister.
