‘Beverly Hills Cop’ and ‘Top Gun’ Actor Frank Pesce Dead at 75

Frank Pesce, whose long list of acting credits include Flashdance, Midnight Run, and Miami Vice, died earlier this month from complications of dementia, Variety reports. He was 75. 

“I met Frank at a very low point in my life. He always said he saved me and he was right. I’d never met anyone like him,” his girlfriend Tammy Scher said in a statement. “Frank was a force larger than life or any fictional character, always entertaining, intriguing and fascinating. Unafraid to approach anyone and immediately make an acquaintance. Celebrities flocked to be near him as he had an encyclopedia of knowledge about music and movies.” 

Pesce’s first taste of Hollywood came when he landed the part of an extra in The Godfather: Part II, per New York Post. He got his first onscreen part in an episode of the TV series Police Story two years later. Pesce first met Sylvester Stallone around this time, sparking a life-long friendship which included his final film appearance in the 2015 Rocky spinoff Creed. 

Pesce wrote and starred in 29th Street, a self-proclaimed autobiographical tale about his own life where he assumes the role of his brother Vito and Anthony LaPaglia plays him. 29th Street tells the story of a man who wins $6 million in the first New York State Lottery.

Pesce appeared in both Beverly Hills Cop films as two separate characters. He played a cigarette buyer in the original, pictured above, and Carlotta, a thug who accuses Eddie Murphy’s Alex Foley of being a cop, in the follow-up. 

Other noteworthy accomplishments were serving as a stand-in for Robert DeNiro in Taxi Driver and Frank Sinatra in The First Deadly Sin.