Talk:Peter Greene

Was Zed meant to be a security guard or a sheriff? I've seen Pulp Fiction a few times but the only thing clear to me about his occupation is that he wears a badge that looks like a sheriff's. I also think that Tarantino might have made Zed a sheriff as one of his crossovers from Resorvoir Dogs (there was the story of Mr Orange encountering four county sheriffs and a police dog). (60.224.103.86 13:09, 4 January 2006 (UTC))

I think he was just some security guard. A sheriff would have been a little too far out there, even for Pulp Fiction. --Sycotherejekt 09:19, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

He's a security guard. Google image-search Zed Pulp Fiction if this link doesn't work: http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/villains/images/9/97/PulpFiction_148Pyxurz.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20121018070452 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.113.192.36 (talk) 14:19, 3 December 2016 (UTC)

The "Career" section mentions: "In Pulp Fiction, Greene appeared as Zed, who (spoiler)." Is that really necessary? I reckon unannounced movie spoilers have no business randomly appearing in an actor's "Career" section. "Greene appeared as Zed" seems sufficient. ~2025-32038-02 (talk) 16:54, 13 December 2025 (UTC)

he was 60 years old.. not 66 years old at the time of his death

To add to this article: cause of death. ~2025-31208-44 (talk) 16:05, 14 December 2025 (UTC)

age ~2026-11299-50 (talk) 23:13, 19 February 2026 (UTC)

Sorry for the late reply, but the actor's age (66) was confirmed via this NYT article. However, other reliable sources such as NBC News state his age at the time of his death was 60. sjones23 (talk - contributions) 02:17, 2 March 2026 (UTC)

These are not reliable sources. I uploaded a photo from his funeral. It depicts his birth year as 1959, and also his birthday as May 10th. Why would his family lie. It is not uncommon for actors to lie about their age. The NY Times article is correct. People need to stop vandalizing this page. Bluechip18 (talk) 07:24, 2 March 2026 (UTC)

Actually, you can check the WP:RSP page. sjones23 (talk - contributions) 07:45, 2 March 2026 (UTC)

I don't need to check any sources. Was it you that removed the photo from his funeral? I would take his families word over any of these ridiculous sources you people keep putting up. He was 66. Bluechip18 (talk) Bluechip18 (talk) 08:55, 2 March 2026 (UTC)

Bluechip18 (talk) 08:57, 2 March 2026 (UTC)

An old version from 2015 says May 10th 1965. It looks like an ip editor added in the current date but has no sources. The funeral image says May 10th 1959. I think it could just be a simple mix up and someone got confused info and added it in years ago and no one corrected it. I am going to go with NYT and IMDB. Also, note that some news outlets which are normally good do have a bad habit of just summarizing Wikipedia pages and not looking deeper than that. Harizotoh9 (talk) 12:52, 2 March 2026 (UTC)

While I agree NYT is a reliable source, IMDB does not really count as a reliable source as per WP:IMDB. sjones23 (talk - contributions) 12:55, 2 March 2026 (UTC)

Yes, I know that and notice that I'm not citing IMDB? But their information about roles and actors is also often sourced from databases. It is completely in-line with him being born in 1959. The initial IP editor did not cite a source for the 1965 date, thus that initial edit fails verification and the burden was on them to prove their case. Minor errors crop up in minor figures all the time without anyone noticing simply because they're minor figures. NYT is also a fairly reliable source and initially posted the incorrect information and made a correction.

When Taylor Wily died a lot of sources couldn't be sure of what the guy's full name even was resulting in confusion on the Wikipedia page. The infobox also listed his Japanese sumo wrestling name when he competed in Japan. Total chaos. Only the NYT obituary did a bit of digging and found an interview explaining how he came to create his UFC stage name. I used the NYT source to correct the rest of the article. These kind of mistakes are pretty bog-standard on both Wikipedia and for minor actors and figures. Harizotoh9 (talk) Harizotoh9 (talk) 13:06, 2 March 2026 (UTC)

Indeed, even some reliable sources get things wrong and there was a typo regarding Peter's age in the sources when they announced his death (the correct age is 66 per NYT). sjones23 (talk - contributions) 13:25, 2 March 2026 (UTC)

The issue though is that despite that NYT article being published with 66 as the age, the more recent reporting in regards to his cause of death still refer to his age as 60. Los Angeles Times, Deadline, People Magazine, NBC News. Outlets like TMZ as well, which I wouldn’t say is out and out reliable or anything, but in their article about the cause of death they state they were in contact with the New York Medical Examiner receiving this news, and also still say 60. I would figure that the age would have been better clarified through this recent update.

Now, the funeral image by itself I don’t think can be used. The only other place I found it used in was a Page Six article, an article that also still cites an age of 60. I am not sure the usability status of Page Six here. Whichever age is deemed the correct one to place in the article, the discrepancy should certainly also be noted. Rusted AutoParts 14:56, 2 March 2026 (UTC)

Most are seemingly just checking imdb, and this seems to be the source of the original date. USAToday outright says it is citing imdb for age. IMDB didn't update the page until afterwards. So these sources are most likely not double checking things, especially since the Wiki page only now has started to update. So heads up: a lot of sources just quickly summarize either the Wikipedia articles or the imdb page. I have in fact caught sources badly summarizing Wiki pages almost word for word. If imdb or Wiki get something wrong it's possible that the bad information will bubble up. Here i'm trusting NYT since they actually issued a correction on it. There's a hierarchy of sources, and this is now the 2nd unrelated event where the NYT corrects information that is incorrect in other obituaries. Harizotoh9 (talk) 15:54, 2 March 2026 (UTC)

• ‘Mask’ star Peter Greene remembered at ‘very private’ memorial, was making New Year’s Eve plans - PageSix
• Instagram: noelashman Source

News story confirms that the funeral banner is legit, and shows his age. yes, many, many sources are sloppy and will not double check things like this. Harizotoh9 (talk) 17:13, 2 March 2026 (UTC)

Yeah NYT seems to have this right -- the NBC source is just repeating IMDB (Greene was born in Montclair, New Jersey, on Oct. 8, 1965. He began acting in his 20s while living in New York City, according to his biography on the website IMDB.).

I've seen reference above to the correction NYT made, but for posterity here is the complete and total wording of the correction:

A correction was made on Feb. 18, 2026: An earlier version of this obituary, relying on information provided by sources close to Peter Greene, misstated the date and location of his birth and his age at death. He was born on May 10, 1959, not Oct. 8, 1965, and in Philadelphia, not Montclair, N.J. He died at 66, not 60. The obituary has also been updated to note the cause of Mr. Greene’s death.

The other sources seem to have just taken IMDB or other (apparently unreliable) sources at face value, but making a correction like the above is declarative. --tony 18:53, 2 March 2026 (UTC)

Seeing as the NYT source makes it clear they were given specific clarification about age (wasn't able to read it thoroughly as it's paywalled), I think that makes it pretty clear cut it's 66 being the age. Rusted AutoParts 19:54, 2 March 2026 (UTC)

Seems like a good case at this point. We've had similar issues with sourcing a biographical subject's age at the time of their death as with the Rachael Lillis article back in 2024. sjones23 (talk - contributions) 22:57, 2 March 2026 (UTC)

He is important enough for major publications to write an obit for him, but not enough for most of them to do serious digging. Most of them seemed to just be summarizing his IMDB page, and in this case they had the wrong birthday. This is now the second time the NYT actually bothered to do some digging and fact checking that other publications didn't do. Oh and many publications used an image of his character in The Mask played by another actor! Greene did play the character for most of the film, but once the character dons the mask and transformed, the character was played by other people. So many publications ended up using the wrong image from the film. I think there's been a decrease in quality of mainstream sources in the last few years and the trend may continue. So beware and watch out. I've caught publications just lazily paraphrasing Wikipedia articles. Harizotoh9 (talk) 14:59, 5 March 2026 (UTC)