Peter Coffield
Encyclopedia
Peter Coffield was an American actor.
Coffield worked as an actor in theater, television, and film. He is best known for his role in the film Cry Rape!. His other films include Times Square
(1980) and Neil Simon's Only When I Laugh
.
Coffield guest starred on several TV shows throughout the '70s and early '80s, including The Love Boat
, Hart to Hart
, Eight Is Enough
, Wide World Mystery, Family
, and Love, Sidney
, and he acted in TV movies such as Washington: Behind Closed Doors, and The Man Without a Country. He also performed in several plays on Broadway, including Hamlet (1969), Abelard and Heloise (1971), The Merchant of Venice (1973), Tartuffe (1977), and The Man Who Came to Dinner (1980).
In addition to Broadway, Coffield had key roles in Misalliance at the Roundabout Theater, in A. R. Gurney's Middle Ages at the Hartman Theater in Stamford, Conn., and in S. N. Behrman's No Time for Comedy at the McCarter Theater in Princeton, N.J., and he performed at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington and at the Old Globe Shakespeare Festival Theater in San Diego.
In a review in The New York Times, theater critic Walter Kerr wrote, "Making a mask of his broad, handsome face, Mr. Coffield went about his chores deftly, confidently, with clear and virile purpose. Saying little, he seemed to think a great deal: thought can be a scene-thief, it turns out."
Coffield was nominated for a Daytime Emmy award in 1974 for Best Actor in Daytime Drama for his role in CBS Daytime 90: Legacy of Fear.
Coffield graduated from New Trier High School in 1963 and from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois in 1967, where he earned a B.S. in Oral Interpretation. He also earned a master's degree from the University of Michigan.
Coffield died of an AIDS-related illness on November 19, 1983.
Coffield worked as an actor in theater, television, and film. He is best known for his role in the film Cry Rape!. His other films include Times Square
Times Square (film)
Times Square is a 1980 film starring Trini Alvarado, Robin Johnson, and Tim Curry. The plot of the film essentially embodies a punk rock ethic - misunderstood youth forming a band and, through music, articulating their frustrations toward adult authority, personified in the film as parents, the...
(1980) and Neil Simon's Only When I Laugh
Only When I Laugh (film)
Only When I Laugh is a 1981 film based on Neil Simon's play The Gingerbread Lady.The story is about an alcoholic Broadway actress who tries to stay sober while dealing with the problems of her teenaged daughter and her friends: an overly vain woman who fears the loss of her looks and a gay actor...
.
Coffield guest starred on several TV shows throughout the '70s and early '80s, including The Love Boat
The Love Boat
The Love Boat is an American television series set on a cruise ship, which aired on the ABC Television Network from September 24,1977, until May 24,1986.The show starred Gavin MacLeod as the ship's captain...
, Hart to Hart
Hart to Hart
Hart to Hart is an American television series, starring Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers as Jonathan and Jennifer Hart, a wealthy couple who also moonlighted as amateur detectives. The series was created by writer Sidney Sheldon and produced by Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg...
, Eight Is Enough
Eight Is Enough
Eight Is Enough is an American television comedy-drama series which ran on ABC from March 15, 1977 until August 29, 1981. The show was modeled after syndicated newspaper columnist Thomas Braden, a real-life parent with eight children, who wrote a book with the same name...
, Wide World Mystery, Family
Family (TV series)
Family is an American television drama series that aired on ABC from 1976 to 1980. Creative control of the show was split between executive producers Leonard Goldberg, Aaron Spelling and Mike Nichols...
, and Love, Sidney
Love, Sidney
Love, Sidney was an American situation comedy television series about a gay man, Sidney Shorr, and his relationship with a single mother and her five year-old daughter whom he invites to live with him...
, and he acted in TV movies such as Washington: Behind Closed Doors, and The Man Without a Country. He also performed in several plays on Broadway, including Hamlet (1969), Abelard and Heloise (1971), The Merchant of Venice (1973), Tartuffe (1977), and The Man Who Came to Dinner (1980).
In addition to Broadway, Coffield had key roles in Misalliance at the Roundabout Theater, in A. R. Gurney's Middle Ages at the Hartman Theater in Stamford, Conn., and in S. N. Behrman's No Time for Comedy at the McCarter Theater in Princeton, N.J., and he performed at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington and at the Old Globe Shakespeare Festival Theater in San Diego.
In a review in The New York Times, theater critic Walter Kerr wrote, "Making a mask of his broad, handsome face, Mr. Coffield went about his chores deftly, confidently, with clear and virile purpose. Saying little, he seemed to think a great deal: thought can be a scene-thief, it turns out."
Coffield was nominated for a Daytime Emmy award in 1974 for Best Actor in Daytime Drama for his role in CBS Daytime 90: Legacy of Fear.
Personal life
Coffield grew up in an Irish-Catholic household, the youngest of five children. Peter's eldest three siblings, Carolyn Coffield, Kitty (Katherine Amelia) Coffield, and James Coffield III, are from his father's first marriage. (Peter's father, James L. Coffield, was widowed in 1935; he married Peter's mother, Mary White, in 1939. They had two children together, Michael and Peter, and the children from both marriages lived as a single family.) Coffield's father died in 1960; his mother died in 2001 in Tasmania, Australia, at the age of 94. Peter's brother Michael, an attorney in Chicago, died in 2007.Coffield graduated from New Trier High School in 1963 and from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois in 1967, where he earned a B.S. in Oral Interpretation. He also earned a master's degree from the University of Michigan.
Coffield died of an AIDS-related illness on November 19, 1983.
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 | Enigma | Peter McCauley | |
| 1980 | Times Square Times Square (film) Times Square is a 1980 film starring Trini Alvarado, Robin Johnson, and Tim Curry. The plot of the film essentially embodies a punk rock ethic - misunderstood youth forming a band and, through music, articulating their frustrations toward adult authority, personified in the film as parents, the... |
David Pearl | |
| 1981 | Only When I Laugh Only When I Laugh (film) Only When I Laugh is a 1981 film based on Neil Simon's play The Gingerbread Lady.The story is about an alcoholic Broadway actress who tries to stay sober while dealing with the problems of her teenaged daughter and her friends: an overly vain woman who fears the loss of her looks and a gay actor... |
Mr. Tarloff |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1973 | Lt. Vinson | TV movie | |
| 1973 | Cry Rape | Andy Coleman | TV movie |
| 1974 | CBS Daytime 90 | Peter | Guest star, episode: "Legacy of Fear" |
| 1974 | Oliver | TV movie | |
| 1974 | Medical Center Medical Center (TV series) Medical Center is a medical drama series which aired on CBS from 1969 to 1976.-Synopsis:The show starred James Daly as Dr. Paul Lochner and Chad Everett as Dr. Joe Gannon, surgeons working in an otherwise unnamed university hospital in Los Angeles. The show focused both on the lives of the doctors... |
Roger Patman | Guest star, episodes: "The Bribe" and "Trial by Knife" |
| 1975 | Paul Stocker | Guest star, episode: "Solomon's Dilemma" | |
| 1975 | Adams of Eagle Lake Adams of Eagle Lake Adams of Eagle Lake is an American hour-long police series that aired on ABC in 1975. Andy Griffith starred as Sheriff Sam Adams and the episodes presented his attempts to maintain the law in a small resort town... |
Jimmy Simpkins | Recurring role |
| 1974–1976 | Wide World Mystery | Chet / Jerry Gerard | Guest star, episodes: "Terror in the Night", "Too Easy to Kill", and "Death Is a Bad Trip" |
| 1975 | Beacon Hill | Larry Greene | Guest star, episodes: "The Pretenders" and "The Test" |
| 1977 | Barnaby Jones Barnaby Jones Barnaby Jones is a television detective series starring Buddy Ebsen and Lee Meriwether as father- and daughter-in-law who run a private detective firm in Los Angeles. A spin-off from Cannon, the show ran on CBS from January 28, 1973 to April 3, 1980, beginning as a midseason replacement... |
Tom Landry | Guest star, episode: "A Simple Case of Terror" |
| 1977 | Family Family (TV series) Family is an American television drama series that aired on ABC from 1976 to 1980. Creative control of the show was split between executive producers Leonard Goldberg, Aaron Spelling and Mike Nichols... |
Brian Slater | Guest star, episode: "Best Friends" |
| 1977 | Eight Is Enough Eight Is Enough Eight Is Enough is an American television comedy-drama series which ran on ABC from March 15, 1977 until August 29, 1981. The show was modeled after syndicated newspaper columnist Thomas Braden, a real-life parent with eight children, who wrote a book with the same name... |
Chuck | Guest star, episode: "Hit and Run" |
| 1977 | Washington: Behind Closed Doors | Eli McGinn | TV mini-series |
| 1978 | Tartuffe | Cleante | TV movie |
| 1978 | W.E.B. | Kevin | Recurring character, 5 Episodes |
| 1978 | Wayne | Guest star, episode: "Till Death Do Us Part, Maybe/Chubs/Locked Away" | |
| 1980 | O'Malley | Guy Fleming | TV movie |
| 1980 | Hart to Hart Hart to Hart Hart to Hart is an American television series, starring Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers as Jonathan and Jennifer Hart, a wealthy couple who also moonlighted as amateur detectives. The series was created by writer Sidney Sheldon and produced by Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg... |
Sanford Whitley | Guest star, episode: "Sixth Sense" |
| 1981 | Nurse | Dr. Benson | Guest star, episodes: "Life Begins at Dinner" and "The Gifts" |
| 1981 | Senior Trip | Jerry | TV movie |
| 1982 | Love, Sidney Love, Sidney Love, Sidney was an American situation comedy television series about a gay man, Sidney Shorr, and his relationship with a single mother and her five year-old daughter whom he invites to live with him... |
Eddie | Guest star, episode: "Father's Day" |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 3, 1969 – Apr 26, 1969 | Rosencrantz | Lorenzo | Revival, Play, Tragedy |
| Mar 10, 1971 – Apr 24, 1971 | Abelard and Heloise | Robert de Montboissier | Original, Play, Drama |
| Jan 20, 1972 – Apr 29, 1972 | Vivat! Vivat Regina! Vivat! Vivat Regina! Vivat! Vivat Regina! is a play written by Robert Bolt. It debuted at Chichester in 1970 and later had a successful run on Broadway in 1972.... |
Lord Darnley | Original, Play |
| Mar 1, 1973 – Apr 7, 1973 | Lorenzo | Revival, Play, Comedy | |
| Sep 25, 1977 – Nov 20, 1977 | Tartuffe Tartuffe Tartuffe is a comedy by Molière. It is one of his most famous plays.-History:Molière wrote Tartuffe in 1664... |
Cléante | Revival, Play, Comedy, Farce |
| Jun 26, 1980 – Sep 7, 1980 | Bert Jefferson | Revival, Play, Comedy |
