Actor Peter Greene has died at the age of 60, his agent confirmed.
Greene was found at his apartment on the Lower East Side in New York on December 12 at around 3:25 pm local time. His manager of 10 years said he was confirmed dead at the scene.
Police have said they are not treating the death as suspicious. The medical examiner is expected to determine the official cause of death.
Greene became known for playing villains and built a strong screen presence in the 1990s. He appeared as Dorian Tyrell in The Mask, starring Jim Carrey and Cameron Diaz.
That same year, he played Zed in Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction. The role became one of the most talked about performances of his career.
His manager paid tribute, saying: “He was a terrific guy. Truly one of the great actors of our generation. His heart was as big as there was. I’m going to miss him. He was a great friend.”
He added: “He worked with so many amazing actors and directors.”
The manager also said Greene’s performance in The Mask was arguably his best role. He added: “He fought his demons but overcame them.”
Speaking to the local news, he said: “Nobody played a bad guy better than Peter. But he also had, you know, a gentle side that most people never saw, and a heart as big as gold.”
Greene had recently signed on for an independent thriller called Mascots alongside Mickey Rourke. Production was expected to begin in January.
When his manager called the film’s director to share the news, he said the director broke down in tears. He added that the team was very upset.
Greene’s role as Zed in Pulp Fiction was especially disturbing for audiences. The scene remains one of the film’s most unsettling moments.
In a 2011 interview, Greene said he originally turned the role down. “When I got the script, I was thoroughly disappointed,” he said.
He explained that the scene felt too graphic and risky for his career. “The way it was written wasn’t my cup of tea. If you ever saw Deliverance, you never saw the guy who took Ned Beatty and made him ‘squeal like a pig’ ever again, so I didn’t think it was a great career move.”
Tarantino later convinced him to take the role. Greene said changes were made to tone the scene down.
He said: “We kept the language that was there, but it was originally a much more graphic scene.”
Beyond The Mask and Pulp Fiction, Greene appeared in Judgement Night, The Rich Man’s Wife, The Bounty Hunter, and The Usual Suspects.
Following news of his death, fans shared tributes online. Many described him as a memorable and powerful character actor.
