Biography for
Peter Kastner More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

1 October 1943, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Date of Death

18 September 2008, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Mini Biography

Peter Kastner graduated from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) with a degree in Modern European History. He studied also at UCLA for a Masters degree in that field but put those studies aside to pursue acting work. He was a lifelong learner, most recently teaching himself Yiddish in the original Hebrew script.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Jenny Kastner (Peter's widow)

Spouse

Jenny Greene	(19 May 1974 - 18 September 2008) (his death)
Wendy Miller	(20 January 1971 - November 1973) (divorced)

Trivia

Former boyfriend of actress Karen Black. She was six years older than him.

Brother of television director and producer John Kastner.

Studied modern languages and literature at the University of Toronto in the early 1960s. Received a B.A. in Modern European History from UCLA in the 1970s.

First wife Wendy Miller. Second wife Jenny, to whom he was married 34 years. Has a stepdaughter, Liza, and two grandsons, Oskar and Gus.

One of many actors who read for the lead role in The Graduate (1967) but lost out to Dustin Hoffman.

His parents were involved in a printing and publishing business. He was the second of four children, including older sister Susan Kastner, and younger siblings John Kastner and Kathy Kastner. All were involved in the entertainment business in some way - Susan was a staff writer of Star magazine; John was an actor who turned prolific director and producer; Kathy was a Toronto-based host of a current-affairs show.

After choosing to leave acting, Peter became a high-school English teacher. He had a breakdown in 1991 and was hospitalized for a while. Following that, he taught himself all aspects of videography and became a video teacher and mentor to many students. He created his own video art which was funny, wry, quirky and political and, at times, deeply personal, particularly on the subject of his own experience as a survivor of incest. He wrote many songs and recorded two CDs. One of his songs, "Testosterone", was set to animation by the brilliant Jonathan Amitay. It can be seen on YouTube. He played at Club Passim, in Cambridge, Massachusetts (the former Club 47 of Joan Baez fame), and at the Free Times Cafe and other venues in Toronto.

His pacemaker failed while he was driving in downtown Toronto and he died after pulling his car to the side of the road. He was less than two weeks shy of his 65th birthday.

A proud survivor of incest. He spoke out about it in his art and would have brought it further into the light, particularly the devastating effects of mother/son incest.

Former girlfriends: Francesca Hilton, Anne Beatts, Barbara Garson, Colleen Brennan (aka "Sharon Kelly"), Janice Tieken, Rosanna Norton, Rhonda Cooper, Hélène Dublin.

Brothers-in-law: Martin Jameson, Mathew Jacobs.