The cause of death for Peter Greene, an actor known for playing villainous roles in movies such as “The Mask” and “Pulp Fiction,” has been determined.
Greene’s manner of death was ruled an accident.
The immediate cause was a “gunshot wound of left axilla,” or the left armpit, “with injury of brachial artery” – the major blood vessel in the arm – a spokesperson for New York City’s Office of Chief Medical Examiner confirmed to USA TODAY on Feb. 18.
TMZ was first to report the news.
Greene was found dead in his apartment in the Lower East Side of New York City on Dec. 12. Greene’s manager, Gregg Edwards, told NBC News and The New York Times the following day that a wellness check had been carried out after one of Greene’s neighbors had complained about music playing for 24 hours.
“Nobody played a bad guy better than Peter,” Edwards told NBC News on Dec. 13. “But he also had, you know, a gentle side that most people never saw, and a heart as big as gold.”
Among Greene’s nearly 100 film and TV credits were appearances on Apple TV’s “Dope Thief,” “Hawaii Five-0” and “Life on Mars.” In 1994’s “The Mask,” Greene played the gangster Dorian opposite Jim Carrey.
That same year, he portrayed the brutal security guard Zed in Quentin Tarantino’s Oscar-winning “Pulp Fiction.”
“He was passionate about shedding light on all the deaths that have happened around the world as a result of America dismantling USAID,” Edwards told Deadline on Dec. 13. “He was a good friend who would give you the shirt off his back. He was loved and will be missed.”
Greene was coproducing and narrating the documentary “From the American People: The Withdrawal of USAID,” which will use “firsthand accounts, expert interviews, and investigative reporting” to “educate the public, hold leadership accountable, and reignite national dialogue around America’s role in global humanitarian aid,” according to its GoFundMe page.
Greene is survived by a brother and a sister, as well as his son Ryder, 16.
