Riegert was born on April 11, 1947, in the Bronx, New York, the son of Lucille, a piano teacher, and Milton Riegert, a food wholesaler.1 Riegert grew up in Hartsdale, New York, and was raised in a non-observant Jewish household.2
He graduated from Ardsley High School in 1964 and later from the University at Buffalo. He worked at a number of jobs, including teaching, waiting tables, and as a social worker before settling on acting as a career.
Riegert made his Broadway debut in the musical Dance with Me. Other Broadway credits include The Old Neighborhood, An American Daughter, The Nerd, and Censored Scenes From King Kong. Off-Broadway he has appeared in Road to Nirvana, The Birthday Party, Isn't It Romantic, Sexual Perversity in Chicago, and A Rosen by Any Other Name.
Riegert's film debut came in 1978's National Lampoon's Animal House. He has subsequently appeared in films such as Crossing Delancey, Local Hero, The Mask, Traffic, and We Bought a Zoo.
Riegert made his television debut in two episodes of M*A*S*H. He has also portrayed Newark Assemblyman and later New Jersey State Senator Ronald Zellman in The Sopranos and defense attorney Chauncey Zeirko in multiple episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. He starred opposite former girlfriend Bette Midler in the television adaptation of Gypsy and was featured in the HBO drama Barbarians at the Gate (which earned him an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Special). He also starred as composer Jake Rubin (based on real-life composer Irving Berlin) in the 1984 miniseries Ellis Island, the final episode of Seinfeld as the president of NBC, and the television movie Back When We Were Grownups. Riegert voiced the character of Max Weinstein in the controversial episode "When You Wish Upon a Weinstein" of Family Guy. Riegert guest-starred in a Season 2 episode of Leverage as corrupt lawyer Peter Blanchard. In 2011, Riegert began a multi-episode arc on One Tree Hill as August Kellerman, Nathan's unforgiving college professor. Riegert appeared as the character George Moore in Season 1 of Damages. He also appeared in a recurring role as Judge Harvey Winter in CBS' The Good Wife. He appeared in Dads as David Sachs, the father of Eli Sachs, played by Seth Green. Riegert also appeared in Seasons 3 and 4 of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. He made a multi-episode guest appearance in the second half of the Netflix original comedy series Disjointed. Riegert has a recurring role as left-wing lawyer Roger Pugh on Season 3 of the HBO series Succession.3
Riegert made his screenwriting and directorial debuts with By Courier, based on a short story by O. Henry. It received an Academy Award nomination for Best Live Action Short Film and won him the Festival Award for Best First Feature at the Marco Island Film Festival.
Riegert also directed and co-wrote King of the Corner, a 2004 film featured at the Newport Film Festival, in which he also starred alongside Isabella Rossellini. It also featured Eric Bogosian, Dominic Chianese, Beverly D'Angelo and Rita Moreno.
Riegert narrated the audiobook of Michael Chabon's The Yiddish Policemen's Union, which was nominated for a 2008 Audie Award in literary fiction. He also narrated the audiobook of The Voyage of the Narwhal,4 and has read the stories of Raymond Carver.
He was also the narrator for The First Basket, a documentary film on professional basketball's influence on Jewish culture.5
"Peter Riegert Biography (1947-)". Film Reference. Retrieved 15 January 2017. http://www.filmreference.com/film/88/Peter-Riegert.html ↩
Fox, Michael (June 3, 2005). "Peter Reigert gives voice to 'bad Jews' in directorial debut". J. The Jewish News of Northern California. Retrieved 17 November 2019. I was aware of being Jewish and I don't mean that in a small way. http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/26162/peter-reigert-gives-voice-to-bad-jews-in-directorial-debut ↩
Drysdale, Neil (November 1, 2021). "Peter Riegert in Succession: Will Local Hero lock horns with Logan Roy?". The Press and Journal. Aberdeen. Retrieved May 14, 2022. https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/past-times/3568419/peter-riegert-succession/ ↩
"The Voyage of the Narwhal by Andrea Barrett on Audio Download". LearnOutLoud. Retrieved 15 January 2017. http://www.learnoutloud.com/Catalog/Literature/Contemporary-Literature/The-Voyage-of-the-Narwhal/36360 ↩
"The Production Team". The First Basket. Retrieved 15 January 2017. http://www.thefirstbasket.com/team.html ↩