Cause Of Death Revealed For Peter Greene, The 'pulp Fiction' Actor Best Known As Villain Zed

The origin of decease for Peter Greene, a characteristic character known for playing villains successful movies including “Pulp Fiction” and “The Mask,” has been revealed by New York City’s Office of Chief Medical Examiner.

Police recovered Greene, 60, dormant successful his flat Dec. 12. They didn’t fishy foul play.

His decease was ruled an accident, nan M.E.’s agency said via email. Greene died from a “gunshot coiled of near axilla pinch wounded of brachial artery,” nan agency said. In mundane English, that intends he changeable himself successful his near underarm and injured a important artery that starts successful nan enarthrosis and runs down to nan elbow crease.

Police recovered nan characteristic character successful his Lower East Side apartment, Deadline reported, aft neighbors heard Christmas euphony playing for days and 1 of them called authorities and nan landlord for a wellness check.

Greene had a history of addiction, per nan New York Post, and attempted termination successful nan 1990s. He was scheduled to spell successful for a process to region a benign tumor adjacent his lung connected nan time he was found, nan outlet said. His head had talked to him 2 days earlier he was found.

“He sounded OK … It was conscionable a wholly normal conversation. He was a small tense astir nan cognition going in, but he said it wasn’t ace serious,” head Gregg Edwards told nan Post successful December. “He was talking astir that and hoping that I was going to beryllium OK and wishing maine good arsenic I was wishing him well. We’re bully friends. I emotion nan guy.”

Greene’s best-known domiciled was nan villain Zed, who was brought successful to torture Bruce Willis and Ving Rhames’ characters successful Quentin Tarantino’s 1994 classical “Pulp Fiction.” In “The Mask,” besides released successful 1994, he played mobster Dorian Tyrell, antagonist to Jim Carrey’s Stanley Ipkiss, a.k.a. nan Mask.

Those roles came only a mates of years into Greene’s career, which per IMDb included astir 100 TV and movie credits from 1990 to 2026. His TV credits included episodes of “Chicago P.D.,” “Hawaii Five-0,” “Law & Order,” “Justified” and more.

He started retired pinch parts successful a mates of TV shows successful nan early 1990s earlier landing nan lead domiciled successful “Laws of Gravity.” In 1995, Times movie professional Kenneth Turan called nan 1992 movie “independent American filmmaking astatine its best” and described Jimmy (Greene) arsenic “a small-time thoroughfare outlaw who, though horrified astatine nan thought of existent work, is unchangeable by section standards” successful Brooklyn’s past crime-ridden Greenpoint neighborhood.

The New Jersey native, calved Oct. 8, 1965, studied Method acting astatine nan Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute successful New York City erstwhile he was successful his 20s. He told Premiere mag successful 1996 that he ran distant from location astatine property 15 and lived connected nan streets, utilizing and dealing narcotics and hiding from different dealers successful theaters, wherever he sewage into acting. His supplier usage overlapped pinch his early occurrence connected screen.

After a 1996 termination attempt, nan character said, he sewage curen for addiction and sobered up.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.