Pulp Fiction and The Mask actor Peter Greene made a career playing villains

Peter Greene (above right), a character actor who made a career of playing villains, including in Pulp Fiction (1994), The Mask (1994) and dozens of other films and television shows, has died in New York City.

- Derrick Bryson Taylor

He was 60.Greene’s death was confirmed on Dec 13 by his manager, Mr Gregg Edwards, who said the American actor had been found dead in his apartment in the Lower East Side neighbourhood of Manhattan on Dec 12.

A neighbour had complained about music playing for 24 hours and a wellness check had been performed. Mr Edwards did not provide a cause of death.

Over a four-decade career, Greene stood comfortably in a villain’s shoes, bringing to life a range of characters who haunted audience with their sadism and moral corruption.

In Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction, he portrayed Zed, a security guard who sexually assaults Mar-sellus Wallace, played by Ving Rhames.

Later that year, Greene starred as the mobster Dorian, opposite Jim Carrey, in the comedy The Mask.

In 2001, he played a corrupt police officer alongside Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke in Training Day, agreeing to help cover up the killing of a retired narcotics officer.

“He was one of the greatest character actors on the planet,” Mr Edwards said. “He was completely immersed in the character.”