{"id":123,"date":"2020-12-07T20:09:53","date_gmt":"2020-12-07T20:09:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/conchstyle.com\/vocalheroes\/?page_id=123"},"modified":"2020-12-31T17:27:13","modified_gmt":"2020-12-31T17:27:13","slug":"123-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/conchstyle.com\/vocalheroes\/123-2\/","title":{"rendered":"About Peter"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Peter Riegert<\/h1>\n

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About Peter<\/p>\n

The Extremely Long Version,
with Pictures<\/em><\/p>\n

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Peter Riegert<\/strong> is an acclaimed actor, writer, and director, best known for his roles in Animal House<\/em>, Local Hero<\/em>, and Crossing Delancey<\/em>. His full professional bio can be found here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Vocal Heroes is his first podcast.<\/p>\n

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Peter Riegert<\/strong> grew up in a wonderful family who loved the arts.<\/p>\n

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With his grandparents, Bertha and Max Atkin<\/em><\/p>\n

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He<\/strong> was born in the Bronx but grew up in Ardsley, New York.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

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Photo credit: Peter\u2019s dad, Milton Riegert<\/em><\/p>\n

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When<\/strong> he<\/strong> was in middle school and nervous about asking a girl out, his father Milton reassured him,<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t worry. girls like skinny boys with long eyelashes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Riegert was correct.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0Peter graduated<\/strong> from the University of Buffalo, then worked for the University Settlement House on Manhattan\u2019s Lower East Side, taught eighth grade in Brooklyn\u2019s Ocean-Hill Brownsville during the 1968 fight for community school control, hitchhiked around Europe, and became Bella Abzug\u2019s aide-de-camp when she ran for congress in 1970.<\/p>\n

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This could be Peter making way for Bella. I\u2019d like to think so.<\/em><\/p>\n

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On January 1, 1971, he woke up and decided to be an actor.<\/strong>
He was 23 years old.
Two college pals offered advice: \u201cYou need head shots and a resum\u00e9.\u201d
\u201cWhat\u2019s a head shot?\u201d asked Peter.
\u201cA photograph. Of your head.\u201d
\u201cWhat do I put on the resum\u00e9?\u201d
\u201cActing credits,\u201d they said. \u201cPretend you were Hamlet for the Peoria Players\u2026 Auntie Mame in East Millinocket… no one will read it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Peter got a head shot.<\/strong><\/p>\n

He typed up his resum\u00e9: contact info plus the only two plays he\u2019d been in: one during high school, one during college.<\/p>\n

The remainder of the page he left blank.<\/p>\n

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Credit: Peter\u2019s talented actor-photographer Horatio Street neighbor,
John Baron<\/em><\/p>\n

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Six weeks later,<\/strong> a casting person\u2014amused by this\u2014decided he should be the LSD-bedizened Puck in John Wolfson\u2019s A Midsummer Night\u2019s Trip<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Peter went on to play a young woman\u2019s consoling (and sturdily upholstered) armchair, Chico Marx, and many seriously off-Broadway roles.<\/p>\n

After seeing him perform in one of these, a young actress named Deborah White asked whether he\u2019d like to join an improvisation workshop. That workshop became War Babies.<\/p>\n

For seven years, the troupe performed together once a week.<\/p>\n