Peter Coyote (born October 10, 1941) is an American actor and author, and has narrated many documentaries and audio books. His voice work includes narrating the opening ceremony of the 2002 Winter Olympics. He has also served as a producer during Oscar telecasts. He is one of the founders, with Emmett Grogan, of the Diggers, a anarchist group active in Haight- Ashbury during the mid-1960's. The Diggers were known for operating without money and fed nearly 600 people a day for "free" as well as running a Free Store, Free Medical Clinic, and even a short-lived Free Bank. Coyote was also an actor, writer director with the San Francisco Mime Troupe; his prominence in the San Francisco hippie scene led to his being interviewed for the highly acclaimed book, "Voices from the Love Generation." He acted and directed the first cross-country tour of the Minstrel Show, and his play (co-authored with Mime Troupe member Peter Berg) Olive Pits, won the Troupe a coveted OBIE from the New York Village Voice. Coyote became a member, and later chairman, of the California Arts Council from 1975 to 1983. In the late 1970s, he shifted from acting on stage to acting in films. In the 1990s and 2000s, he acted in several television shows. He is fluent in German and French.
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, he spent 15 years in the counterculture during the 1960s. He wrote a memoir of that time called "Sleeping Where I Fall". It has gone through five 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 12 students who traveled to Washington, DC, during the Cuban missile crisis of the early 1960s supporting President John F. 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 Kennedy advisor McGeorge Bundy.
Was a member of the radically political theatre performance group "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
In his book Lila, Robert Pirsig relates that he had Coyote in mind to star in an adaptation of, "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance." Coyote was a friend of Pirsig's son Chris.
