Peter Riegert Biography

Peter Riegert (born April 11, 1947) is an American actor, screenwriter, and film director, best known for his roles as Boon from Animal House, the fast talking gangster Aldo in Oscar, the tough Lt. Kellaway in The Mask, and crooked New Jersey State Assemblyman Ronald Zellman on the HBO original series The Sopranos, and "Mac" MacIntyre, in Local Hero..

Early life

Riegert was born in The Bronx, the son of Lucille, a piano teacher, and Milton Riegert, a food wholesaler. Riegert grew up in Hartsdale, New York, and was raised in a nonobservant Jewish household. He graduated from Ardsley High School in 1964 and later from the University at Buffalo. He worked at a number of jobs, including teaching, waiting tables, and social worker before settling on acting as a career.

Career

Stage

He made his Broadway debut in the musical Dance with Me. Other Broadway credits include The Old Neighborhood, An American Daughter, The Nerd, and Censored Scenes From King Kong. Off-Broadway he has appeared in Road to Nirvana, The Birthday Party, Isn't It Romantic, Sexual Perversity in Chicago, and A Rosen by Any Other Name.

Film

Year	Movies	As
1978	National Lampoon's Animal House	Boon
1979	Americathon	McMerkin
1979	The Rose	Herbie
1979	Chilly Scenes of Winter	Sam Magurie
1983	Local Hero	MacIntyre
1986	News at Eleven	Eric Ross
1988	Crossing Delancey	Sam Posner
1989	W. Eugene Smith: Photography Made Difficult	W Eugene Smith
1991	Oscar	Aldo
1991	The Runestone	(a Pez popping)
1993	Gypsy	Herbie
1993	Barbarians at the Gate	Peter Cohen
1994	The Mask	Lt. Mitch Kellaway
1995	The Infiltrator	Rabbi Cooper
1995	An Element of Truth	Sidney
1997	Face Down	Lieutenant Cooper (Coop)
1997	North Shore Fish	Porker
1998	The Baby Dance	Richard Luckman
1998	The Scandalous Me: Jacqueline Susann Story	Irving Mansfield
2001	Bojangles	Marty Forkins
2004	King of the Corner	Leo Spivak
2004	Mystery Dance	Alan Baker
2010	The Stranger	Dr Harris Kildee
2011	The Hit List	Bill Grieber
2011	Sholem Aleichem: Laughing in the Darkness	(himself)
2011	We Bought a Zoo	Delbert McGinty

TV

Riegert made his television debut as Cpl. Igor Straminsky in two episodes of M*A*S*H. He has also portrayed New Jersey State Assemblyman Ronald Zellman in The Sopranos and defense attorney Chauncey Zeirko in multiple episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. He starred opposite former girlfriend Bette Midler in the television adaptation of Gypsy and was featured in the HBO drama Barbarians at the Gate (which earned him an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Special), the final episode of Seinfeld as an NBC executive and the television movie Back When We Were Grownups, and he voiced the character of Max Weinstein in the controversial episode "When You Wish Upon a Weinstein" of Family Guy. Riegert guest starred in a Season 2 episode of Leverage as corrupt lawyer Peter Blanchard. In 2011, Riegert began a multi-episode arc on One Tree Hill as August Kellerman, Nathan's unforgiving college professor. Riegert appeared as the character George Moore in Season 1 of Damages. He also appears in a recurring role of Judge Harvey Winter in CBS's The Good Wife.

Director and writer

Riegert made his screenwriting and directorial debuts with By Courier, based on a short story by O. Henry. It received an Academy Award nomination for Best Live Action Short Film and won him the Festival Award for Best First Feature at the Marco Island Film Festival.

Riegert directed and co-wrote King of the Corner, a 2004 film featured at the Newport Film Festival. It stars Peter Riegert and Isabella Rossellini, and includes Eric Bogosian, Dominic Chianese, Beverly D'Angelo and Rita Moreno.

Voice work

Riegert narrated the audiobook of Michael Chabon's The Yiddish Policemen's Union, which was nominated for a 2008 Audie Award in literary fiction. He narrated the audiobook of The Voyage of the Narwhal, a mid-nineteenth century romance with the Arctic, and also read the stories of Raymond Carver.

He was also the narrator for The First Basket, a documentary film on professional basketball's influence on Jewish culture.