Peter Greene: ‘Pulp Fiction’ actor cause of death revealed

Actor Peter Greene’s cause of death has been announced, two months after his death at the age of 60.

The star, best known for his roles in Pulp Fiction and The Mask, was found dead in his Lower East Side, New York City apartment on December 12, 2025.

On February 18, New York’s Chief Medical Examiner office announced that the actor had died of a gunshot.

According to People, Greene was killed by a “gunshot wound of left axilla with injury of brachial artery.” The axilla is the armpit, and the brachial artery is a major blood vessel of the upper arm, supplying blood to the arm, elbow, forearm and hand.

His death has been ruled an accident.

At the time, the New York Police Department told The Post that no foul play was suspected in Greene’s death.

Greene’s manager, Gregg Edwards, told NBC News at the time that a wellness check was conducted on Greene when neighbors heard music playing in his apartment for over 24 hours without stopping.

“Nobody played a bad guy better than Peter,” Edwards said at the time. “But he also had…a gentle side that most people never saw, and a heart as big as gold.”

Greene may be best known for his role as the iconic antagonist in Quentin Tarantino’s 1994 cult classic Pulp Fiction, but he often played complicated characters throughout his career, including in Laws of Gravity and The Rich Man’s Wife.

Reacting to his death at the time, filmmaker Cody Clarke praised Greene’s lesser-known work as he wrote in a post on X: “RIP Peter Greene, a wonderful actor who among other things starred in one of the most important low-budget independent films ever made, LAWS OF GRAVITY. If you’ve never seen it, do yourself a favor and do so. It inspired many of your favorite filmmakers to make their own movie.”

Edwards told The New York Post in December that Greene had “worked with so many amazing actors and directors. He fought his demons but overcame them.”

Greene, originally from New Jersey, ran away from home at the age of 15, and got wrapped up in drug use and dealing in NYC, he told Premier magazine in 1996, according to his tvinsider profile.

He managed to escape the lifestyle and became one of the most recognizable movie villains in modern film history.