Caption | at a political rally in 2007 |
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Birth name | Rachmil Pinchus Ben Mosha Cohon |
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Birth date | October 10, 1941 |
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Birth place | New York City, New YorkUnited States |
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Spouse | Marilyn McCann (1977–1991)Stefanie Pleet (1998–present) |
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Website | http://www.petercoyote.com/ |
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Peter Coyote (born Rachmil Pinchus Ben Mosha Cohon; October 10, 1941) is an American actor, author, director, screenwriter and narrator of films, theatre, television and audio books. His voice work includes narrating the opening ceremony of the 2002 Winter Olympics and Apple's iPad campaign. He has also served as on-camera co-host of the 2000 Oscar telecasts.
Coyote was one of the founders of the Diggers, an improv group active in Haight-Ashbury during the mid-1960s. Coyote was also an actor, writer and director with the San Francisco Mime Troupe; his prominence in the San Francisco counter-culture scene led to his being interviewed for the noted book, Voices from the Love Generation. He acted in and directed the first cross-country tour of the Minstrel Show, and his play Olive Pits, co-authored with Mime Troupe member Peter Berg, won the Troupe an Obie Award from the Village Voice. Coyote became a member, and later chairman, of the California Arts Council from 1975 to 1983. In the late 1970s, he shifted from acting on stage to acting in films. In the 1990s and 2000s, he acted in several television shows. He speaks fluent Spanish and French.
Early life
Coyote was born in New York City, the son of Ruth (
née Fidler) and Morris Cohon, an investment banker. His father was of
Sephardic Jewish descent and his mother came from a
working-class Ashkenazi Jewish family. Her father, trained as a
rabbi in
Russia, fled the
Czar's draft, and eventually ran a small candy-store in the
Bronx. involved in left-wing politics. He grew up in
Englewood, New Jersey and graduated from the
Dwight-Englewood School there in 1960. Coyote later said that he was "half black and half white inside" because of the influence of Susie Nelson, his family's African-American housekeeper, who was like a second mother to him.
While a student at Grinnell College in 1962, Coyote was one of the organizers of a group of twelve students who traveled to Washington, D.C. during the Cuban Missile Crisis supporting U.S. President John F. Kennedy's "peace race". Kennedy invited the group into the White House (the first time protesters had ever been so recognized) and they met for several hours with McGeorge Bundy. The group received wide press coverage. They mimeographed the resulting headlines and sent them to every college in the United States. They created provocative 'theater' events designed to heighten awareness around issues of private property, consumerism, and identification with one's work. They fed nearly 600 people a day for "free", asking only that people pass through a six foot by six foot square known as The Free Frame of Reference. They ran a Free Store, (where not only the goods, but the management roles were free), a Free Medical Clinic, and even a short-lived Free Bank.
After dropping out in the Sixties and Seventies, Coyote became a dedicated practitioner of American Zen Buddhism, and is ordained in that tradition. His audiobook recordings of Shunryu Suzuki's Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, Paul Reps's Zen Flesh, Zen Bones
California Arts Council member
From 1975 to 1983, Coyote was a member of the
California Arts Council, the state agency which determines art policy for the state. After his first year, Coyote was elected chairman by his peers three years in a row and during his tenure as chairman, the Council's overhead expenses dropped from 50% to 15%, the lowest in the State, and the Arts Council budget rose from $1 million to $16 million. More importantly, his council introduced the idea of artists as "creative problem solvers" and by paying artists to "solve problems for the state" rather than make art, they by-passed the objections of many conservative lawmakers. Coyote engineered relationships with 14 departments of State which began to use artists in a variety of capacities, paying 50 cents on the dollar for it. It was an immense success and gave him the confidence (after 12 years in the counter-culture) to try his hand at film-acting.
Film and television acting
In 1978, Coyote began acting again ("to shake the rust out") appearing in plays at San Francisco's award-winning
Magic Theatre. While playing the lead in the World Premiere of
Sam Shepard's
True West, a
Hollywood agent approached him, and his film career began in 1980 with
Die Laughing. Coyote chose his
stage name after a spiritual encounter with a
coyote while under the influence of
peyote. After telling the story to Rolling Thunder, who challenged him not to dismiss it as a
hallucination, he took the name as a way of honoring the encounter. He did supporting roles in
Tell Me a Riddle, 1981's
Southern Comfort, and as the mysterious scientist "Keys" in
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982). In 1980 he was seriously considered for the role of
Indiana Jones in
Raiders of the Lost Ark, and indeed auditioned for the part. Coyote's first starring role was in the 1982
science fiction adventure
, "Outrageous Fortune" and "The Jagged Edge" Since then, he has done over 120 films for theaters and television and has played starring roles for many directors, including Roman Polanski (
Bitter Moon), Pedro Almodovar (
Kika), Martin Ritt (
Cross Creek), Jean-Paul Rappeneau (
Bon Voyage), Diane Kurys (
A Man in Love), Walter Salles (
Exposure).
As Leonard Maltin once wrote, "Coyote's no rubber-stamp leading man", but he seems comfortable with that. "I'm a Zen Buddhist student first, actor second", Coyote has said. "If I can't reconcile the two lives, I'll stop acting. I spend more time off-screen than on." In addition to his movie work in more recent films such as Sphere, A Walk to Remember, and Erin Brockovich, Coyote has also appeared in many made-for-TV movies and miniseries, and he does commercial voice-overs. Coyote was cast in lead roles on several television series: The 4400 in 2004 and The Inside in 2005. After The Inside was canceled, Coyote returned to The 4400 as a special guest star for their two-part season finale, then joined the cast of ABC's series Commander in Chief as a Vice-Presidential nominee and the next year did a four episode turn as Sally Field's disreputable boyfriend in Brothers & Sisters.
Also in 2005, Coyote served as the narrator for several prominent projects including the documentary film and the National Geographic-produced PBS documentary based on Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel. He also narrated an episode of the series Lost in April 2006. In 2008, he narrated Torturing Democracy, a documentary produced by PBS which details the Bush administration's use of "enhanced interrogation techniques" in the War on Terror. He also narrated the 12-hour Ken Burns series on the National Parks, and 15 episodes for the National Geographic Explorer series.
Writing
As a writer, Coyote has a
mythopoetic style reminiscent of
Michael Ventura, the product of many years of self-examination. Peter Coyote's
left-wing politics are evident in his articles for
Mother Jones magazine, some of which he wrote as a delegate to the
1996 Democratic National Convention; in his disagreements with
David Horowitz; and in his autobiography
Sleeping Where I Fall. In 2006, he developed a political television show for
Link TV called "The Active Opposition" and in 2007 created
Outside the Box with Peter Coyote starting on
Link TV's special, Special:
The End of Oil - Part 2.
Many of Coyote's stories from the 1967 to 1975 counter-culture period are included in his memoir, Sleeping Where I Fall, published by Counterpoint Press in April 1998. One of the stories incorporated into his book is "Carla's Story," about a 16-year-old mother who lived communally with Coyote, and who, after learning of her husband's murder, became a drug addict, then a prostitute, had her children stolen, and continued to spiral downhill until she turned her life around. This story was published in ZYZZYVA and awarded the 1993–1994 Pushcart Prize. He also states he was a close friend of singer Janis Joplin. Mr. Coyote has a website at www.petercoyote.com which features the titles of all his movies and extended samples of much of his writing. He is a member at RedRoom.com, a web-site for authors.
Credits
Narrator
Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind (1988)
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
The Education of Little Tree by Forrest Carter
Contrary Warriors
The Breathtaker by Alice Blanchard
by Carlos Castaneda
The West executive produced by Ken Burns (1996)
Survivors of the Skeleton Coast (1997)
The History of Sex (1999)
National Geographic: The Battle For Midway Prod by Michael Rosenfeld (1999)
In the Light of Reverence (2001)
Color of War
Out of the Blue
(2002)
The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom by Don Miguel Ruiz
The Voice of Knowledge : A Practical Guide to Inner Peace (Toltec Wisdom) by Don Miguel Ruiz (2004)
National Geographic: Guns, Germs, and Steel [Diamond] (2004)
Understanding: Extraterrestrials
The Tribe
Guns, Germs, and Steel (2005)
National Geographic: The Gospel of Judas Prod by Michael Rosenfeld (2006)
The War Prayer (2006)
Hippies (2007)
Wings of Thunder: A portrait of life
Stealing America: Vote by Vote (2008)
Torturing Democracy (2008)
(2008)
National Geographic Explorer : The Virus Hunter (2009)
directed by Ken Burns (2009)
(2009)
''The Top 100: NFL's Greatest Players (2010)
Writer
Sleeping Where I Fall: A Chronicle autobiography by Peter Coyote; 1998 ISBN 1-58243-011-X
Illustrator
Ringolevio: A Life Played for Keeps by Emmett Grogan; 1990
Television and film actor
(selected roles)
Die Laughing (1980) .... Davis
(1982) .... Porter Reese
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) .... Keys
Heartbreakers (1984) .... Blue
The Legend of Billie Jean (1985) .... Detective Ringwald
Jagged Edge (1985) .... Thomas Kasny
The Blue Yonder (1985) .... Max Knickerbocker
Outrageous Fortune (1987) .... Michael Sanders
Un homme amoureux (1987) .... Steve Elliott
Heart of Midnight (1988) .... Sharpe/Larry
A Grande Arte (1991) .... Peter Mandrake
Keeper of the City (1991) .... Frank Nordhall
Bitter Moon (1992) .... Oscar
Kika (1993) .... Nicholas
Breach of Conduct (1994) .... Col. Andrew Case
Moonlight and Valentino (1995) .... Paul
Buffalo Girls (1995) .... Buffalo Bill Cody
Unforgettable (1996) .... Don Bresler
Murder in My Mind (1997) .... Arthur Lefcourt
Sphere (1998) .... Captain Harold C. Barnes
Patch Adams (1998) .... Bill Davis
Erin Brockovich (2000) .... Kurt Potter
Jack the Dog (2001) .... Alfred Stieglitz
Femme Fatale (2002) .... Watts
A Walk to Remember (2002) ... Reverend Sullivan
Bon voyage (2003) .... Alex Winckler
Grand ro´le, Le (2004) .... Rudolph Grichenberg
Deadwood (2004) .... General Crook
The Inside (2005) .... Special Agent Virgil \"Web\" Webster
Deepwater (2005) .... Herman Finch
(2005) .... Uncle Charles
(2006) .... Uncle Charles
Commander in Chief (2005–2006) .... Warren Keaton
The 4400 (2004–2006) .... Dennis Ryland
Behind Enemy Lines II (2006) .... President Adair T. Manning
Brothers & Sisters (2007) .... Mark August
(2007) .... host
Five Dollars a Day (2008) .... Bert Kruger
.... US President Sterling
All Roads Lead Home (2008) .... Hock
NCIS (2008) .... Ned Quinn
FlashForward (2009).... President Dave Segovia
The Story of Bonnie and Clyde (2010) .... Smoot Schmid
(2010- ) .... District Attorney Jerry Hardin
References
External links
Official website
The Diggers Archives
The Free-Fall Chronicles excerpts from Sleeping Where I Fall
Heyoka Magazine Interview with John LeKay
Category:1941 births
Category:American anarchists
Category:American film actors
Category:Jewish actors
Category:American Jews
Category:American pacifists
Category:American television actors
Category:American voice actors
Category:Buddhist pacifists
Category:Diggers (theater)
Category:Emmy Award winners
Category:Grinnell College alumni
Category:American people of Russian descent
Category:Living people
Category:Actors from New York
Category:People from Englewood, New Jersey
Category:People from New York City
Category:People from Pennsylvania
Category:San Francisco State University alumni
Category:American Zen Buddhists