Peter Frechette (/frəˈʃɛt/frə-SHET;^[1] born October 3, 1956) is an American actor. He is a stage actor with twoTony Award nominations forEastern Standard andOur Country's Good, and frequently stars in the plays ofRichard Greenberg. He is well known on TV for playing hacker George on the NBC seriesProfiler and Peter Montefiore onThirtysomething. In film, he is known for playing T-Bird Louis DiMucci in the musicalGrease 2.^[2]

Raised inCoventry, Rhode Island, Frechette is the youngest of five children. His father was an efficiency expert and his mother a nurse. Frechette earned aBachelor of Fine Arts in Theater from theUniversity of Rhode Island.

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Frechette first appeared on the professional stage at theEdinburgh Festival Fringe as part of the Rhode Island Summer Ensemble, starring with Chel Chenier in the comedyPontifications on Puberty and Pigtails in 1979.^[3]

He received high praise in 1981 for his work in two different productions ofHarry Ruby'sSongs My Mother Never Sang. The same year he starred in the one-actOff-Broadway production ofIn Cahoots, part of theThree Hopefuls MARATHON (featuring two other one-act productions). He left to work in Los Angeles, but returned in 1984 to star inBob Merrill's MusicalWe're Home, and again in 1987's revised production ofFlora the Red Menace (he also recorded songs for the cast album).

In 1988, he returned to live in New York City to take the lead role of Drew Paley in the Off-Broadway production ofEastern Standard byRichard Greenberg, costarringPatricia Clarkson,Dylan Baker, andKevin Conroy.^[2] The show transferred toBroadway in December 1989 and he remained in the cast throughout the run despite filming the television seriesDream Street simultaneously in New Jersey (he filmed every day and performed every night for three months).

Frechette earned theDrama Desk Award,Outer Critics Circle Award andTheatre World Award for best actor, and was nominated for aTony Award. The same year, he starred inThe American Place Theatre's Off-Broadway production ofHyde in Hollywood (he would return to the role of communist screenwriter Jake Singer for a television version of the play two years later).

In 1991, he starred oppositeCherry Jones inOur Country's Good, which resulted in a second Tony nomination for best actor.^[2] The same year he co-starred inAbsent Friends as grief-stricken Colin. In 1992, he appeared in Bob Merrill's last Broadway musical (and cast recording) ofHannah...1939 andLarry Kramer's autobiographicalThe Destiny of Me. He also appeared on Broadway in the original productions ofAny Given Day (1993) andThe Play's the Thing (1995), as well as the 2005 revival ofThe Odd Couple as Roy (and understudy forMatthew Broderick's Felix Unger).

He's appeared at theRoundabout Theatre in three productions:The Play's the Thing (1995),Hurrah at Last (1999) andThe Dazzle (2002). ForThe Dazzle, he andReg Rogers were both nominated forDrama League Award for Distinguished Performance andLucille Lortel Award for Best Actor (Rogers won); the two shared theObie Award for best actor for their performances as the co-dependent Collier Brothers. They originated the show in 2000 at theNew York Stage and Film atVassar College'sPowerhouse Theater.

Frechette was part of the west to east coast transfer ofHurrah at Last, in the role of Laurie. He earned theBackstage West Garland Award in 1998 for his performance produced by theSouth Coast Repertory. He also appeared in their productions ofNight and Her Stars andThe Extra Man. In 2016, he returned to the theater company in the role of Joseph II inAmadeus.

Frechette was a member of the resident ensemble at theOregon Shakespeare Festival for five years (2011–15).^[4] He has also worked with national regional companies including theSeattle Repertory Theatre,Berkeley Repertory Theatre,George Street Playhouse, Cape Playhouse,The Old Globe,La Jolla Playhouse,Mark Taper Forum, Berkshire Playhouse, and thePasadena Playhouse as an actor and instructor since leaving New York City.

Frechette is a founding member of the New York theater company The Drama Department (along withDavid Warren,Cynthia Nixon,Patricia Clarkson,Hope Davis,John Slattery,Michael Rosenberg andJohn Cameron Mitchell).

In 2022, Frechette was in Dave Steakley'sThe Inheritance at the Zach Theatre in Austin, Texas.^[4]

In 2024, Frechette played Henry Lehman inThe Lehman Trilogy, also at the Zach Theatre.^[4]

Frechette's made his film debut inGrease 2 (1982) as T-Bird Louis DiMucci.^[2] He appeared on the film's soundtrack (including a solo version of 'Let's Do It For Our Country', a satirical duet ballad he performed withMaureen Teefy in the film). He went on to appear in the pilot ofVoyagers! (as Eddie Rickenbacker).

He appeared in two episodes ofThe Facts of Life which served asbackdoor pilots for a series about an all-boys military academy. The would-be series would have starredJimmy Baio with Frechette as the primary antagonist, but it was not picked up to series. He continued appearing in films, mostly horror films includingThe Hills Have Eyes Part II (1984),The Kindred (1987),The Unholy (1988) andPaint it Black (1989).

He had a large role in the 1984 comedyNo Small Affair asJon Cryer's older brother. He made guest appearances onTaxi,The Renegades,Hill Street Blues,Hotel,It's a Living,Cagney & Lacey,Matlock, and, most notably, in two episodes ofL.A. Law as Christopher Appleton, an HIV-positive gay man who claimed to have killed his lover as an act of mercy because he was dying from AIDS.

Frechette was cast as one of the three leads of 1989'sDream Street, the unofficial blue-collarspin-off ofThirtysomething (it lasted 6 episodes, airing as a mid-season replacement).^[2] In November 1989, Frechette guest-starred in theThirtysomething episode "Strangers" (season 3, episode 6), as Peter Montefiore, a man who goes on a date with recurring character Russell Weller (David Marshall Grant). Frechette and Weller appeared in bed, seemingly naked after having had sexual relations following a first date, generating controversy. A number of advertisers refused to run commercials during the broadcast, andABC opted not to air the episode again during summer reruns (it has since returned to the syndication schedule and was released in the season three DVD box set).^[5][6]

Frechette was nominated for theEmmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for his performance. He returned for three more episodes ofThirtysomething in season 4, a small appearance in "The Haunting of DAA" and as part of the inner-circle of friends in the episodes "New Year's Eve" and "Closing the Circle".

The same year he appeared in the first season ofLaw & Order as Jack Curry in 'The Reaper's Helper", an HIV positive man committing "mercy killings" for others diagnosed with AIDS. He would appear in two more episodes ofLaw & Order (and one episode ofLaw & Order: Criminal Intent). In 1992, he had a recurring role in the first season ofPicket Fences.

In 1993, he co-starred in the critically acclaimedBarbarians at the Gate. The following year, he starred in theLifetime filmAgainst Her Will: The Carrie Buck Story. In 1996 he appeared in the pilot for the NBC seriesProfiler as computer expert/hacker George Fraley.^[2] Between shooting the pilot and being picked up, the producers made his character a regular and would remain on the show throughout the entire run.

In 2006, he took on the substantial role of bank manager Peter Hammond in Spike Lee's heist filmInside Man. He also appeared in small roles in various films, includingThe First Wives Club andMiracle at St. Anna. In 2016, he appeared as a high-powered divorce attorney on the television seriesDevious Maids.^[2]

Frechette's partner since 1988 is directorDavid Warren.^[7] They married in 2017.^[2]

• Peter Frechette at theInternet Broadway Database
• Peter Frechette at theInternet Off-Broadway Database (archived)
• Peter Frechette atIMDb 

• 1956 births
• Living people
• Male actors from Rhode Island
• American male stage actors
• American male television actors
• American male film actors
• American gay actors
• Drama Desk Award winners
• People from Warwick, Rhode Island
• LGBTQ people from Rhode Island
• University of Rhode Island alumni

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