Wilmington native & 'Beverly Hills Cop' star Judge Reinhold: 'Executive murder plot' crushed career

Actor and Wilmington native Judge Reinhold was a bold face Hollywood name in the 1980s thanks to his breakout role in "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" alongside Sean Penn and the "Beverly Hills Cop" franchise partnering him with Eddie Murphy.

As Reinhold, who attended Alexis I. du Pont High School, prepares to revive his role as Detective Billy Rosewood in Netflix's upcoming "Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F" film, streaming July 3, he is opening up about why he thinks his career may have been stunted.

The 67-year-old actor said his attempt at a leading role in the film "Vice Versa" was squashed due to a figurative "executive murder plot."

Judge Reinhold: Late '80s age-change movie glut hurt career

Reinhold told Vanity Fair in a profile published June 13 that the 1988 "body-swap" film with Fred Savage was destroyed at the box office due to similar movies coming out at the time, as well as behind-the-scenes moves by former Columbia Pictures CEO David Puttnam.

"It was basically an executive murder plot. David Puttnam, who produced 'Chariots of Fire,' became the head of Columbia Pictures, and we all loved him because he was a creative and he had done indies," Reinhold said. "The downside with David was he wanted to bring the price of lead actors down, but make the backend profits real."

Puttnam was CEO for 15 months, from June 1986 to September 1987.

Reinhold continued: "I believed him. I really did. And he wasn’t, unfortunately, around long enough to prove that formula."

"Vice Versa" follows a divorced executive and his 11-year-old son as they encounter a mysterious Tibetan skull. The skull releases a magical power that causes the two to switch bodies.

As noted in Vanity Fair, the film came amid a slate of age-change movies, including "Like Father Like Son" in 1987, as well as "Big" and "18 Again!" in 1988.

"What happened was Dudley Moore and Kirk Cameron's 'Like Father Like Son.' Tri-Star Pictures threw that movie into production while we were already shooting," Reinhold said. "And Coca-Cola owned both companies. When I started the film, I knew that that was a risk to be so closely identified with the other ones. I know that it was a premise that had been done before. I didn't know about the Dudley Moore movie."

Judge Reinhold tells The News Journal about growing up in Wilmington

Reinhold's most recent major wave of publicity came in 2006 when he co-starred in the third season finale of the Fox comedy "Arrested Development," playing himself as a TV judge.

At the time, he spoke with Delaware Online/The News Journal about growing up in Wilmington before moving to Virginia with his family at 14.

Reinhold grew up in the well-heeled Westover Hills neighborhood on Greenwood Road, not far from where his father worked in labor relations for DuPont in Wilmington.

"Westover Hills was a sweet place. I just remember riding my bike everywhere," Reinhold said at the time.

The move came when his father retired and the family moved to an old Southern plantation farm in Fredericksburg, Virginia, that his family had purchased years before.

They first moved to Delaware when his father left his legal practice in Washington, D.C. As Reinhold put it, "The DuPont Company made him an offer he couldn't refuse."

Judge Reinhold's career beyond 'Fast Times' and 'Beverly Hills Cop'

The "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" actor went on to star in "The Santa Clause" series and made guest appearances on "Ellen," "Monk" and many television films.

Reinhold starred in every installment of the "Beverly Hills Cop" franchise, including a 2013 TV movie.

Hitting the big screen in 1984, the original "Beverly Hills Cop" catapulted Murphy into superstardom. The classic buddy-cop action comedy spurred two sequels, all starring Murphy as the titular street-smart cop who came to California from Detroit to investigate crime and corruption.

"Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F" reunites Murphy and Reinhold with franchise co-stars John Ashton, Paul Reiser and Bronson Pinchot. New to the franchise are stars including Kevin Bacon, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Taylour Paige.

USA Today contributed to this report. Have a story idea? Contact Ryan Cormier of Delaware Online/The News Journal at [email protected] or (302) 324-2863. Follow him on Facebook (@ryancormier) and X (@ryancormier).

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: 'Beverly Hills Cop' star Judge Reinhold talks film that shelved career