Peter Frederick Weller was born in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, to Dorothy Jean (Davidson) and Frederick Bradford Weller, a federal judge and career helicopter pilot for the United States Army. He traveled extensively as his father literally flew around the world. Before he was out of his teens, he had attended high schools in Heidelberg, Germany and...
Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film (1994), Saturn Award for Best Actor (1988), Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role (1992), Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male (2002)
“24” (2006), “Dexter” (2010), “Star Trek Into Darkness” (2013), “Sons of Anarchy” (2013-2014), “The Strain” (2014), “Longmire” (2012-2015), “Hawaii Five-0” (2013-2016), “The Last Ship” (2015-2016), "God of War: Unearthing the Legend" (2010)
Star Sign
Cancer
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Trademark
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Steely light blue eyes
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Deep resonant voice
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Often plays menacing, sadistic villains
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Quote
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My career was always full of risks one way or another, and that's the way I like it.
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I don't care for horror and fantasy films. I never go to see them in the theater. I know I've played in many of them, but I didn't do them because of their genre -- I did them just because I loved their scripts. I can't say why I like them so much on paper and dislike this kind of film so much on the screen. When I go to the movies, I like romance, comedy and thrillers. I hate gore.
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[on an actor's responsibility to his audience] To inform. That's it, to inform and entertain. But then only to inform. That means to expand an audience's sense of humanity. That's all.
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The best reason to go to the movies is to be with other people. Eating the popcorn, being with other people you don't know. You see, when people are rubbin' up against other people like that, under the environs of being entertained or communicated with, humanity's better off. People expand themselves, they get out of themselves. Love. Television doesn't do that. Television is an isolating experience, sadly enough. I'm sorry to say it. But as good as it ever gets, it's still isolating. You sit in your home and visit with no one. You drink your beer, eat your popcorn and be alone, that's what you do. With movies, you gotta get out, man. You gotta get out and be with people. And that's the best thing and that's the responsibility. Once people are out and in a movie theater, then you can inform them about themselves.
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[on making the original RoboCop (1987)] When I was making it, I knew it was going to be a great thing, but you never know whether they are going to be successful or not. I knew we were making a fantastic social allegory, and, I don't want to sound pretentious, a spiritual one as well.
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[Furthermore on RoboCop (1987)] Aside from the action-adventure, the corruption, corporate machinery gone berserk and so on, the heart of all this is a morality tale. It's like "Beauty and the Beast", or the Tin Man of "The Wizard of Oz". It's a great little jewel of a human story.
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[on turning down RoboCop 3 (1993)] I have to say it didn't quite have the third great act that RoboCop (1987) had and, by the time I was into the second one, I knew I was tired of it, plus David Cronenberg had asked me to do Naked Lunch (1991) with him, so I was happy to do it, and was happy to be gone.
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[on RoboCop 2 (1990)] There was a couple of things that made the character more human that weren't used. I can't remember exactly what the scenes were, I just remember wondering why they weren't in.
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[on the enduring popularity of RoboCop (1987)] It was my contribution to cinema.
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Fact
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Speaks Italian fluently.
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Has English, French, German, Irish and Welsh ancestry.
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Parents are Frederick Bradford and Dorothy Jean Weller.
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On June 24, 2006, he married his longtime girlfriend Shari Stowe on his 59th birthday at the Santa Maria Assuna church in Positano, Italy. Among the wedding guests were Carrie Fisher and Marg Helgenberger.
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Biological father of Kate Linden - manager at Development Management Group.
During the filming of RoboCop (1987) and while wearing the prosthetics, Weller remained in character between takes, responding only to director Paul Verhoeven's when addressed as "Robo". Though Verhoeven found this too funny to take seriously, and this was dropped after a couple of weeks.
Despite his vocal criticisms about the downhill direction the franchise was going in, as well as his physical discomfort wearing the suit, Weller admitted that he was willing to reprise the role of RoboCop in RoboCop 3 (1993) for the fans. However, he was already committed to doing Naked Lunch (1991), so he had to pass.
Is a serious runner who finished the New York Marathon in 1986 in 3 hours and 40 minutes.
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Is a huge fan of the television series 24 (2001), in which he played Jack Bauer's nemesis Christopher Henderson.
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Was at one stage attached to appear in AVP: Alien vs. Predator (2004) in a cameo as John Yutani, the other half of the infamous "Weyland-Yutani" Company from the "Alien" films.
In 2014, Dr. Peter Weller obtained his Ph.D. in Italian Renaissance Art History and Roman History, conferred by UCLA. He had previously obtained his Master's degree in the same subjects.
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He teaches a literature and fine arts class at Syracuse University and is one of Syracuse's most popular professors. He can be seen, in his capacity as an expert, on a History Channel documentary on the Roman era.
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Was chosen to play the lead role in RoboCop (1987) because of his slender build. The producers feared that having a large actor would require too big a suit that would look ridiculous, and insisted on a thinner actor. Weller found he sweated so much weight off in the suit that a fan had to be built into that.
Is a huge fan of cigar smoking, which got him into a heavy argument once in an outdoor restaurant. Though he remains defensive about his right to smoke, he has since then either put out his cigar or gone elsewhere when asked to do so.
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Weller and RoboCop (1987) co-star Nancy Allen were both born on June 24th, three years apart (Weller was born in 1947, Allen was born in 1950).
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Received his Bachelor's degree in Theatre from the University of North Texas (1969).
$8 Million
