- Died 20 days after the death of his wife, actress Deborah Kerr. It was said that her death affected him immensely.
- His first wife had been married to writer Budd Schulberg.
- Viertel is also, some have alleged, the model for the character played by Robert Redford in The Way We Were (1973), whilst the Barbra Streisand character in the same film is said to be based on his first wife, Jigee.
- His 1950s novel, "White Hunter, Black Heart" is, by his own admission, a thinly-disguised account of his adventures whilst working uncredited on the script of The African Queen (1951), and, in White Hunter Black Heart (1990), the 1990 film version, Jeff Fahey plays "Peter Verrill", an obvious self-portrait.
- Son of writer/actress Salka Viertel and writer Berthold Viertel.
- Is thought to have made uncredited contributions to the screenplay of The Journey (1959).
- In his memoir, "Dangerous Friends", Viertel states that although he was separated from his first wife since 1952, he did not actually get a legal divorce. When his first wife died in Jan. 1960, Peter then married Deborah Kerr 6 months later (on the day after Kerr's own divorce was legally finalized). Veirtel wrote that on his marriage certificate to Kerr, for his "status" he filled in the word "widower", because it was true. Peter Veirtel and his first wife, Jigee, had one daughter, Christine, born in 1952.
- Stepfather of Francesca Shrapnel and Melanie Bartley.
- Biography/bibliography in: "Contemporary Authors". New Revision Series, Volume 52, pages 449-451. Detroit, MI: Gale Research, 1996.
- Brother-in-law of Ted Trimmer.
- Stepfather-in-law of John Shrapnel.
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