What The Cast Of Beverly Hills Cop Looks Like Today
In 1984, Eddie Murphy was a TV superstar thanks to Saturday Night Live, and he'd already made the jump to the big screen thanks to the success of Trading Places and 48 Hrs. By the end of that year, a film would come along that would launch Murphy even further into the stratosphere, cement his place as a movie star, and help make him one of the biggest superstars to emerge from the 1980s.
Beverly Hills Cop saw Murphy take the solo lead in a big-screen comedy for the first time without the help of a major co-star to prop him up. The result is a seminal action comedy film, one that holds up as a display of Murphy's leading man chops even decades after it was initially released. Beverly Hills Cop earned critical acclaim, became the highest-grossing film of 1984 at the domestic box office, and paved the way for Murphy's future successes in comedies like Coming to America, The Golden Child, and The Nutty Professor.
Murphy was the biggest star to emerge from Beverly Hills Cop, but he was far from the only one. Here's what the film's cast is up to today.
Eddie Murphy - Axel Foley
Eddie Murphy was already a comedy phenomenon by the time Beverly Hills Cop rolled around, thanks to his star-making four-year stint on Saturday Night Live, his stand-up comedy, and roles in hits like Trading Places and 48 Hrs. The role of Axel Foley only helped to bolster his rise. It was, in many ways, the beginning of the movie star era of Murphy's career, as the film was released the same year that his SNL run ended.
From there, Murphy continued to prove himself one of the most bankable movie stars of the 1980s and the '90s, racking up hit after hit, including Coming to America, The Nutty Professor, Mulan, and Shrek, nearly all of which generated sequels. Though the 2000s were something of a mixed bag for Murphy — an Oscar nomination for Dreamgirls on one hand, flops like The Adventures of Pluto Nash and Meet Dave on the other — he's enjoying a major renaissance of late, including the Coming to America sequel and the launch of the acclaimed Rudy Ray Moore biopic Dolemite Is My Name.
Judge Reinhold - Detective Billy Rosewood
While Murphy's previous cop comedy, 48 Hrs., followed a more familiar buddy cop progression, Beverly Hills Cop was clearly a star vehicle for the young comedian, which meant the duo dynamic was actually established between his co-stars, both of which were clearly supporting him. Detective Billy Rosewood, played by Judge Reinhold, is never quite on Axel Foley's level, but his goofy charm makes him a key presence in the film, and its success was a huge boost to Reinhold's career.
While he'd already scored key roles in Fast Time at Ridgemont High, Stripes, and Gremlins before Beverly Hills Cop, playing Billy Rosewood rocketed Reinhold to the next level of stardom in Hollywood. He took on leading roles in films like Head Office and Vice Versa, but never achieved the same level of success as a leading man that he did as a supporting actor. He returned to play Billy Rosewood in both Beverly Hills Cop sequels and the 2013 TV movie, and took on a key supporting role in the Santa Clause franchise. Other major roles in the 2000s and 2010s included Easy Money, The Detour, and Bad Grandmas.
Lisa Eilbacher - Jenny
Lisa Eilbacher's career as a screen actress dates back to her childhood, when she began appearing on TV series in the 1960s. By the time the 1980s rolled around, her credits already included Bonanza, Shazam!, The Amazing Spider-Man, and a recurring role as Callie Shaw on The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries. The 1980s brought a new level of stardom for Eilbacher thanks to major roles in two hits of the decade: 1982's An Officer and a Gentleman and Beverly Hills Cop two years later. She stars opposite Eddie Murphy as Jenny, a capable art dealer who gets swept up in a drug smuggling ring and proves to be a smart, capable, and resourceful ally to Axel Foley.
After Beverly Hills Cop, Eilbacher continued to work regularly through the '80s, with TV roles including Me and Mom and Monte Carlo and roles in films like Leviathan and Never Say Die. By the early 1990s her career had slowed down, and she added only a handful of roles to her filmography in that decade. Her last screen appearance was as Valerie Damore in the 1996 TV Movie 919 Fifth Avenue.
John Ashton - Sgt. John Taggart
There's a buddy cop duo present in Beverly Hills Cop, but neither of the cops in the duo is Axel Foley. One is the fun-loving, goofy Detective Billy Rosewood, and the other is Sgt. Taggart, Rosewood's by-the-book senior partner, played by John Ashton. Taggart spends much of the film butting heads with Foley and trying to undercut Rosewood's more comedic tendencies, only to come around to respecting Foley in the end. Ashton navigates this perfectly, and lends a great straight man presence to the film.
Ashton's screen acting career runs all the way into the early 1970s, and his look and overall acting style have often lent themselves to cop shows, including Kojak, Columbo, Police Story, Police Woman, and more. In 1984, he co-starred in both Beverly Hills Cop and The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, and returned to play Taggart in Beverly Hills Cop II. Today, after more than 40 years in the industry, Ashton continues to work regularly, with recent roles including the films Uncle John, Once Upon a River, and My Little Baby.
Ronny Cox - Lt. Andrew Bogomil
Ronny Cox is one of those character actors who can lend a lot of presence to a film even if he's not in it for very long. As Lt. Bogomil in Beverly Hills Cop, he projects benevolent authority in only a couple of scenes, confirming his reputation as one of those actors you're always happy to see.
After his breakout role as Drew in Deliverance, Cox continued to build his career with TV performances (most notably Apple's Way) throughout the 1970s and into the 1980s. He returned as Bogomil for Beverly Hills Cop II, and landed other notable roles in films like Total Recall and RoboCop and TV series like St. Elsewhere, Cop Rock, and Stargate SG-1. More recently, he's been seen in TV series including The Starter Wife, Nashville, and True Detective. An accomplished singer-songwriter, Cox has also released several albums, and continues to tour regularly with his band.
Bronson Pinchot - Serge
Bronson Pinchot had only done one feature film, Risky Business, when Beverly Hills Cop rolled around, but he quickly proved to be a scene stealer, going to toe-to-toe with Eddie Murphy as the accented art dealer Serge. Pinchot's talent for accents and comedic timing led to more roles, including an even bigger breakout as Balki Bartokomous in the sitcom Perfect Strangers, which ran for eight seasons before ending in 1993. Another TV hit soon followed for Pinchot when he landed a recurring role on the sitcom Step by Step. He also returned to play Serge one more time in Beverly Hills Cop III.
In addition to frequent film and television work in live-action, Pinchot's talent for voices and accents has made him a sought-after voiceover artist, with credits including The Wild Thornberrys, Cow and Chicken, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, and more. Though he never stopped working, Pinchot's enjoying a raised profile in recent years thanks to roles like Principal George Hawthorne in Netflix's Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and as Dr. Kimbrough on Lodge 49.
Paul Reiser - Jeffrey
Beverly Hills Cop largely functions as a showcase for Eddie Murphy's movie star talents, but there are several instances of actors getting a chance to shine in a single scene. Paul Reiser, then with only a handful of credits to his name, was one of these actors. As Axel's Detroit Police Department friend, Jeffrey, he tries to talk to some sense into Axel at the beginning of the movie, only to be shot down by his hotshot friend.
The success of Beverly Hill Cop helped to elevate Reiser's profile and was followed quickly by a supporting role in another iconic '80s blockbuster, Aliens. From there he transitioned to TV stardom with My Two Dads in 1987, and in 1992 achieved superstardom with his signature role as Paul Buchman in Mad About You, a series which he also co-created.
Since Mad About You, Reiser has continued to appear regularly in both film and TV roles, including the series Red Oaks, The Paul Reiser Show, and Stranger Things. In 2019 he joined season 2 of The Kominsky Method, and also began work on a revival of Mad About You alongside co-star Helen Hunt.
Jonathan Banks - Zack
Jonathan Banks has always been a prolific actor, with particular experience playing tough guys. His screen career dates all the way back to the mid-1970s, when he started landing TV series and movie roles in projects like How the West Was Won. By the '80s he started picking up movie roles in films like Airplane! and 48 Hrs., and in 1984 he landed the role of Zack in Beverly Hills Cop. As the right hand man of the film's villain, Victor Maitland, Banks made his presence known, and the film's success helped to further boost his profile.
Banks continued to work steadily throughout the 1980s and '90s, landing roles in Hunter, Falcon Crest, Women of the House, Wiseguy, and many more series and films. In 2009, Banks landed the role that has come to define his career in the eyes of many fans as hitman and fixer Mike Ehrmantraut in the hit series Breaking Bad. In addition to recent roles in hits like Community and Incredibles 2, Banks has continued to play Ehrmantraut in the Breaking Bad prequel series Better Call Saul and the sequel movie El Camino.
Steven Berkoff - Victor Maitland
Steven Berkoff's career in screen acting stretches back six decades, including more than 150 film and television roles, but for many movie fans, he is still remembered as one of the quintessential 1980s bad guys. After numerous TV roles throughout the '60s, Berkoff appeared in films like A Clockwork Orange and Barry Lyndon in the 1970s before landing one of his most famous roles as General Orlov in the James Bond film Octopussy. Then came Beverly Hills Cop and the role of deadly drug kingpin Victor Matiland.
Berkoff followed up Beverly Hills Cop with another major villain role, as Podovsky in Rambo: First Blood Part II, cementing his status as one of the all-time great '80s action movie heavies. He has continued to work regularly ever since, with key roles in War and Remembrance (in which he played Adolf Hitler), Children of Dune and, more recently, The Borgias, Vikings, and Witches of East End. In addition to his screen acting, he is also an accomplished playwright and director for the stage, and has written several books on his theatre experiences.