If you have been watching movies since the 1990s, it’s possible you don’t know the name of Peter Greene, but you absolutely knew his face. It was the face of slick corruption, of danger, and, quite often, the face of our childhood nightmares.

The sad news has broken today a lot of fans that Peter Greene has died at the age of sixty in New York City. While the industry mourns a talented character actor, an entire generation of moviegoers is mourning the man who mastered the art of playing the villain we loved to hate.

Greene had a unique and incredible look that was impossible to ignore, like intense energy, gaunt features, and piercing, pale blue eyes that could stare right through your soul. Hollywood had an idea how to use that intensity, casting him in roles that defined 90s cinema.

For a lot of people, the introduction to Greene’s terrifying presence was in 1994’s The Mask. Opposite the cartoonish and manic energy of Jim Carrey, Greene played the main antagonist, Dorian Tyrell. He was a calculating, cold mobster who felt just a little too gritty for a PG-13 comedy. When Tyrell finally put on the mask near the film’s climax, transforming into a hulking, demonic version of the anti-hero, it was pure, unadulterated nightmare fuel for kids anywhere.

With Quentin Tarantino’s masterpiece, Pulp Fiction, he cemented his place in pop culture history.

As Zed, the sadistic security guard in the notorious pawnshop scene, Greene managed to make a muted but skin-crawling menace out of just a couple of minutes on screen. He was so good at making the audience squirm that when Bruce Willis finally delivers one of the most famously repeated lines of the decade – “Zed’s dead, baby. Zed’s dead.” – It was something of a palpable relief.

Hollywood has lost a unique talent. Thank you for the memories and scares.