Coyote Is Wily as an Actor

Peter Coyote, namesake of the wily canines that thrive in the hills above Hollywood, similarly is a survivor in the thickets and bracken of the studios down on the flatlands.

Coyote is a non-star, an actor who picks off plum roles but who rarely gets top billing.

In “Die Laughing,” “The Pursuit of D. B. Cooper” and others, including “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial,” “Cross Creek” and “Jagged Edge,” Coyote made enormous contributions to the success of the films, but not as the star.

Now, Coyote may be seen in “The Man Inside,” once again in a supporting role as an unsympathetic, vicious writer for a German scandal sheet.

“I love the supposition that I’m unusual in that I don’t play leading-man roles,” Coyote said.

“I believe there are two kinds of stars. One I call ‘transformers,’ and the others, ‘icons.’ It’s not a judgment; it’s a description. If you are a transformer, the audience will never love you or clutch you to its bosom, whether you’re Robert De Niro or Dustin Hoffman. People will never love them like they love Cruise or Eastwood and the other icons.

“Transformers make people uneasy. If I can be a completely believable murderer or homosexual and then a completely believable lover, it makes people nervous as to their idea of who they are.”