Veteran Actor Richard Foronjy, Al Pacino's Co-star In Serpico, Dies At 86

Richard Foronjy, who spent more than eight years in prison before turning to acting, died on Sunday. He was 86. The news of his passing was confirmed by his family.

DYK Richard Foronjy was arrested by police multiple times?

Foronjy was arrested more than 20 times for “forgery, bank robbery, credit card rip-offs, assorted crimes and skullduggery … [guilty of] almost everything except drugs and homicide,” he said in a 1987 interview with UPI’s Vernon Scott.

The Brooklyn native was convicted only once, which resulted in an 8.5-year sentence in New York's Sing Sing and Attica prisons before he was released at 32.

Richard Foronjy's legacy in the industry

In Hollywood, Foronjy specialised in portraying cops and crooks. He made his screen debut as a cop killer in Serpico (1973) and played cops in The Morning After (1986) and Prince of the City (1981), all directed by Sidney Lumet. “I was especially good at playing cops, no doubt because I got to know them so well when they were busting me every other week,” he said as per The Hollywood Reporter.

He portrayed mobsters Tony Darvo in Martin Brest’s Midnight Run (1988) and Peter Amadesso in Brian De Palma’s Carlito’s Way (1993). He also played a corrupt cop in Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in America (1984).

Foronjy also appeared on the Serpico NBC series, which starred David Birney in the Al Pacino role. He played a con man in Carl Reiner’s The Jerk (1979), a character named Murray the Torch in a 1982 episode of NBC’s Hill Street Blues, and the rent-a-cop Arnold Plettschner in Alex Cox’s Repo Man (1984).

His memoir, From the Mob to the Movies, was published in 2020. Meanwhile, his family includes his significant other, Wendy; his children, Charles, Susan, Christine, and Richard; his brothers, Charles, Frank, and William; and 17 grandchildren. “His journey as a father was marked by challenges and complexities,” his family noted as per The Hollywood Reporter.