He supported himself with a number of different jobs, including those of vending machine operator, toffee-apple salesman, radio actor in the 1930s, and editor for Poetry magazine from 1938 to 1944.

A prolific writer, De Vries wrote short stories, reviews, poetry, essays, a play, novellas, and twenty-five novels.

"[2] Peter De Vries met his future wife, poet and author Katinka Loeser, in 1943 when she won an award from Poetry magazine.

[4] His son Jon is an actor who has appeared in movies such as American Gangster; Sarah, Plain and Tall; and Skylark; as well as episodic television in shows like Blue Bloods, Boardwalk Empire, and Star Trek: The Next Generation.

His daughter Jan, an author, editor and psychic counselor whose interests and activities ranged from homeopathic medicine to shamanism, the occult and Native American lore, died in 1997 at age 52, of cancer.