An engaging, low-key performer, Peter Riegert marked time in a series of jobs from teaching eighth grade to waiting tables before he decided he wanted to pursue a career as an actor. Soon after settling on show business, the Bronx native joined the improvisational comedy troupe, War Babies. He obtained his Equity card playing Chico Marx in the stage musical "Minnie's Boys" and went on to appear in several theatrical productions, including the 1976 Off-Broadway hit "Sexual Perversity in Chicago" by David Mamet.