Peter Coyote: The Counterculture, Zen, and Hollywood

Fashion and cultural historian Laura McLaws Helms is back with a conversation with writer, actor, narrator, Zen Buddhist priest, and countercultural icon Peter Coyote. As the narrator for many of Ken Burns’ documentaries, Peter Coyote has been described as the “voice of America,” yet his life and career are far most interesting and diverse. He came to screen acting and fame in his 40s, leading a wild and colorful life of adventure on the edges of society before that. Coyote was a founding member of the Diggers, a San Francisco anarchist collective. Once the Diggers evolved into the Free Family, Coyote went on to live on several communes. Drugs and the downfall of the counterculture brought Peter Coyote to Zen Buddhism in the mid-70s, which shifted the tenor and direction of his life and career, bringing him into the arts and eventually back into acting, something he had first attempted in the mid-60s as part of the San Francisco Mime Troupe. After re-starting his acting career in 1978, among his first films was as the mysterious government agent Keys in Steven Spielberg’s ‘E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial’ (1982). A successful career in the United States brought him to Europe, where he became a bona fide movie star. Throughout all the ups and downs of moviemaking and the difficulties of balancing family life with a career on the road, Coyote maintained his Zen meditation practice, finding in it his center. For the last twenty years, he has devoted most of his time to narration and writing; Coyote has published two memoirs, a book of poetry, and two books on Zen. Sign up for the Sighs and Whispers newsletter for more fashion and cultural history. For full show notes, videos, episode resources, and a slideshow of photographs, head to https://sighswhispers.com/episode-44-peter-coyote Produced and hosted by Laura McLaws Helms Featured Guest Peter Coyote