With Peter unseen (as in voiceovers or radio adverts), his voice is strongly reminiscent of that of Henry Fonda.
Along with Glenn Close, he narrarated the opening ceremony of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Utah.
Before becoming an actor at the age of 39, Peter Coyote spent 15 years in the counter-culture of the 60s. Coyote wrote a memoir of that time called "Sleeping Where I Fall". It has sold 5 hardback printings and is in its second paperback edition. "Carla's Story", a chapter from the book, won the Pushcart Prize for Excellence in Non-Fiction in 1993/1994.
Tested for the role of Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981).
He was one of the organizers of a group of twelve students who traveled to Washington, DC during the Cuban Missile crisis supporting President Kennedy's "peace race." President 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.
Was a member of the Radically political theatre performance troupe "The San Francisco Mime Troupe"
Graduated with a B.A in English literature in 1964
Given the actor's unusual second name, it's ironic that, prior to his acting career, he once plucked chickens for a living
Peter Coyote Detailed Biography
Peter Coyote is an actor, writer, director and author who has made his mark performing for some of the world's most distinguished filmmakers. Born in the East, Coyote began acting in the early 1980s in such films as Die Laughing, The Pursuit of D.B. Cooper and Tell Me A Riddle. However, it was Walter Hill's Southern Comfort which brought him to the attention of Steven Spielberg, who cast him in E. T The Extra-Terrestrial.
Since then, Coyote has created a series of strong characterizations in a wide range of mainstream and independent feature films, among them Endangered Species, Cross Creek, Timerider, Heartbreakers, Stranger's Kiss, Jagged Edge, The Legend of Billie Jean, Outrageous Fortune, Unforgettable, Moonlight and Valentino, Sphere, Patch Adams, Random Hearts, Steven Soderbe rgh's Erin Brockovich, Red Letters, A Time for Dancing, Jack the Dog, Suddenly Naked, Purpose, A Walk to Remember and Brian De Palma's forthcoming Femme Fatale.
A favorite actor for a host of noted international directors, Coyote has starred in Diane Kurys' A Man in Love; prize-winning Brazilian director Walter Salles' premiere film Exposure; Spanish master Pedro Almodovar's Kika, and Roman Polanski's controversial Bitter Moon.
Coyote has also starred in a number of exceptional television movies and miniseries, among them A Seduction in Travis County, Road to Avonlea, In the Child's Best Interest, The People Vs. Jean Harris, Echoes in the Darkness, Buffalo Girls, Two for Texas, Execution of Justice, The Wednesday Woman and Midwives.
Onstage, Coyote has performed in Paul Sills' Story Theatre and often at San Francisco's Magic Theatre; in Martin Epstein's Charles the Irrelevant (which was written for him); in Autobiography of a Pearl Diver; and in the world premiere of Sam Shepard's True West.
Prior to taking 12 years off to pursue the quest for absolute freedom during the 1960s, Coyote had been an actor-writer-director at the San Francisco Mime Troupe, where one of his plays, Olive Pits, won the troupe a coveted Obie Award from the New York's Village Voice newspaper in 1967. Coyote's critically-acclaimed memoir of his experience in the Sixties, entitled Sleeping Where I Fall, was published in 1998 by Counterpoint Press A c hapter from the book, Carla's Story, won the 1993-94 Pushcart Prize of excellence.
