Peter Kastner (1 October 1943 – 18 September 2008) was a Canadian-born actor who achieved prominence as a disaffected youth in movies of the 1960s.Kastner's first leading role was in the 1964 Canadian film Nobody Waved Goodbye, which was a semi-improvised, documentary-style look at middle-class teenagers. He played an alienated young man, the son of a prosperous automobile dealer, who drifts into petty thievery.His breakthrough role was in the title role of the 1967 Francis Ford Coppola comedy You're a Big Boy Now, also starring Rip Torn, Geraldine Page and Elizabeth Hartman. Kastner played an earnest young man who travels to New York City and meets eccentrics. He played a similar role as a young, earnest advertising man swept up in the era in B.S. I Love You.Kastner also starred in the 1968–1969 ABC sitcom The Ugliest Girl in Town, where he played Timothy Blair, a man who dressed in drag as a favour to his photographer brother. It was following Ugliest Girl that Kastner's fortunes declined. Unable to gain leading roles, he took supporting roles in movies and television series. He did star though in the 1977 CBC Television sitcom Custard Pie as Leo Strauss, the manager of a musical group of that name, but the series was not popular or critically well received. His last film role was in Unfinished Business (1984), a sequel to Nobody Waved Goodbye.Kastner died from a heart attack in Toronto on 18 September 2008, two weeks before his 65th birthday. He was survived by his second wife, Jenny, and is the brother of filmmaker and former child actor John Kastner.
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.
4
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.
5
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.
6
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 journalist at the Toronto Star, New York Post, and Agence France-Presse; John was an actor who turned prolific director and producer; Kathy was a Toronto-based host of a current-affairs show.
First wife Wendy Miller. Second wife Jenny, to whom he was married 34 years. Has a stepdaughter, Liza, and two grandsons, Oskar and Gus.
9
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.
10
Brother of television director and producer John Kastner.
$3 Million
