Peter Hyams was born in New York on July 26, 1943, and attended Hunter College Elementary School. He studied art and music at the Art Students League, and the high school of Music And Art, as well as at Syracuse University, where he majored in music and art. Even before he became a CBS-News anchor man in New York at the age of 21, Hyams had been a drummer with such important jazz musicians as Bill Evans and Maynard Fergusson and had played at Birdland, Small's Paradise and the Newport Jazz Festival. His paintings have hung in such prestigious galleries as the Whitney Museum of American Art. Hyams brings to film direction essential elements of music and painting. From music comes a special sensitivity to structure and rhythm; from painting a hightened sense of light and color. These important insights help Hyams to achieve his goal of creating films which "reach people's emotions, not their minds." Peter Hyams is six-foot-one-inch tall and lives in Brentwood California with his wife George-Ann. He has three sons, Chris, John, and Nick.


Onetime Chicago news anchorman. One of the few writer/directors of major films who also serves as his own cinematographer. Brother of Nessa Hyams. Was asked to direct Night of the Living Dead (1990), but turned it down to work on Narrow Margin (1990).