The Only Major Actors Still Alive From Serpico

Over 50 years ago, Sidney Lumet released “Serpico,” a powerful indictment of NYPD police corruption that was based on a true story. Decades later, New York’s “boys in blue” are still being consistently called out for corruption, but at the time of the film’s release in 1973, “Serpico” felt like it might just cause a sea change in the way America — or at least Hollywood — saw its law enforcement systems. “Sidney Lumet’s ‘Serpico,’ the first in what threatens to be an avalanche of movies about policemen, picks up the old cop film and brings it with lights flashing and sirens blaring into the middle of the Watergate era,” Vincent Canby wrote in his original review for the New York Times.

“Serpico” may not have ended up changing the world, but the movie based on the book of the same name by Peter Maas was a box office and critical hit, earning Oscar nominations for both star Al Pacino and screenwriters Waldo Salt and Norman Wexler. Most of the people involved with “Serpico” are no longer working, either because they’ve retired or — as is unfortunately the case with so many ’70s favorites these days — have since passed away. Along with the key actors below, ensemble cast members including John Medici, Hank Garrett, Damien Leake, John Stewart, F. Murray Abraham, and Woodie King Jr. are still with us today.

You don’t need me to tell you what Al Pacino’s been up to since making “Serpico.” He already had two major roles (as heroin addict Bobby in “The Panic in Needle Park” and mobster Michael in “The Godfather”) under his belt by the time he earned his second Oscar nod for his turn as Frank Serpico. Pacino would continue putting in phenomenal work for decades to follow, earning Oscar nods for several other great films — including “Dog Day Afternoon,” “Dick Tracy,” “The Irishman,” and the “Godfather” sequel — and winning in 1993 for “Scent of a Woman.”

Pacino has also nabbed Emmys for his work in “Angels in America” and “You Don’t Know Jack,” and has been the recipient of two Tonys and a BAFTA Award as well. Other classic Pacino appearances on screen include his turn as Tony Montana in “Scarface,” his performance alongside Robert de Niro in “Heat,” and his turn in the Christopher Nolan film “Insomnia.” More recently, you can catch him in “House of Gucci” and “Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood,” as well as in the Prime Video show “Hunters.”

Pacino has directed four films, including 1996’s “Looking For Richard” and 2000’s “Chinese Coffee.” He also recently dropped his memoir, “Sonny Boy,” and has been on a delightful press tour in which he’s revealed his “Shrek” phone case and done about a dozen other wonderful, meme-worthy things. Pacino’s personal life has also grabbed headlines in the past: as People notes, he got sober after a struggle with addiction in the ’70s, says he briefly flatlined after contracting COVID-19 in 2020, and fathered a child (his fourth) at the ripe old age of 83 just last year.

“Serpico” was the third on-screen role for Cornelia Sharpe, an actress who made appearances in other titles until 1981 before taking a two-decade hiatus from the screen. In the film, she played the love interest of Pacino’s character, Leslie. Sharpe has also had roles in titles including the Elliott Gould-led film “Busting,” the snake-based horror flick “Venom,” and the romantic drama “The Way We Were,” in which she made an uncredited appearance. Sharpe has only acted in 14 films, and she’s never appeared in a TV role according to IMDb.

Sharpe didn’t make any movies at all between 1981 and 2000. Author Joseph Egan, who writes on his website that he interviewed Sharpe in the ’70s, says that the actress took time away from show business after the failure of movies including “The Next Man,” but her reason for stepping away wasn’t entirely career-related. “She married and spent the next 20 years raising her daughter,” he explains. Sharpe married Martin Bregman, who produced both “Serpico” and “Scarface,” and the pair were together for decades until Bregman’s death in 2018. According to Egan’s profile, Sharpe got her start as a model and commercial actor, appearing in over 200 commercials by the mid-’70s.

Actor Tony Roberts played Bob Blair, a character who helps Pacino’s Frank become a whistleblower, in “Serpico.” Roberts has had a busy and varied career in the years since the film, working in theater, radio, film, and television. Roberts appeared in “The Taking of Pelham 123” the year after “Serpico,” but he’s best known for his six collaborations with Woody Allen, including “Annie Hall” and “Hannah and Her Sisters.” In 2016 Roberts independently published his memoir and told Forward that he chose to go that route because publishing companies wanted him to comment on Allen’s “personal life,” by which they surely meant the allegations that he abused one adopted daughter and the fact that he married another of his ex-partner’s daughters.

Other Roberts film roles include parts in “Radio Days,” “Stardust Memories,” “Popcorn,” and “A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy.” On the small screen, Roberts has guest starred in “Night Gallery,” “Murder, She Wrote,” and “Matlock,” and has had multi-episode appearances in “Law & Order,” “The Love Boat,” “The Lucy Arnaz Show,” and more. He starred in the short-lived 1977 legal drama “Rosetti and Ryan” and in Alan Alda’s 1984 TV show “The Four Seasons.” He most recently appeared in a 2017 remake of “Dirty Dancing.”

After Leslie and Frank couldn’t make things work in “Serpico,” the policeman moved on to Laurie, played by Barbara Eda-Young. “Serpico” was Eda-Young’s very first role on screen, and she’s since appeared in 16 additional film and TV projects. Among them: a 2000 version of “Death of a Salesman,” a movie about the fictional (and later real) Naked Brothers’ Band, and episodes of “Law & Order,” “Tales From The Darkside,” and the original “Hawaii Five-O,” among other shows.

Eda-Young may have a relatively slim filmography, but she’s kept busy working in theater over the past several decades. She’s been credited in nine different Broadway productions according to Broadway World, playing Stella in “A Streetcar Named Desire” and understudying for the Linda role in “Death of A Salesman.” According to Concord Theatricals, Eda-Young is also a decorated playwright, having penned titles including “The Hawk,” “Nobody,” and “Lillian Yuralia.” She won an OBIE Award for her part in Tony Kushner’s play “Slavs!” which was set in the final years of the USSR.

In “Serpico,” James Tolkan had a small but important role as Lt. Steiger, an intimidating NYPD leader who inexplicably accused Serpico of having a gay affair with his coworker. Tolkan would continue playing hardasses for years to come, most famously as the appropriately named Mr. Strickler in the “Back To The Future” franchise and Commander Stinger in “Top Gun.” His wide-ranging filmography also features movies like “Dick Tracy,” “WarGames,” “The Amityville Horror,” and “Bone Tomahawk.”

Tolkan often plays authority figures, and many of his screen credits are prefaced by titles like “Agent,” “Lieutenant,” or “Commander.” On TV, he’s guest-starred in “Hill Street Blues,” “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” and “Tales From The Crypt,” playing a cop in a Michael J. Fox-directed episode of the latter. His recurring roles on TV are a bit more off the beaten path: in addition to popping up in five episodes of “Remington Steele,” Tolkan has had major roles in lesser-known shows like “A Nero Wolfe Mystery,” “Cobra,” “The Hat Squad,” and “Mary.” According to his official IMDb biography, Tolkan has also built a considerable stage career, including a part in the original Broadway production of “Glengarry, Glen Ross.”