Actor Frank Pesce, best known for his roles in Top Gun and Beverly Hills Cop, has died at the age of 75. The actor died on February 6 in Burbank of dementia complications, Deadline reported, quoting his girlfriend Tammy Scher.

Also Read: Ivan Reitman, producer, ‘Ghostbusters’ director, dies at 75

Who is Frank Pesce?

Frank Pesce was born in New York City on December 8, 1946. He began his acting career in the 1970s, playing small roles in series such as Police Story and Kojak. He also acted in early Sylvester Stallone movies Rocky and Paradise Alley.

Also Read: Rahul Bajaj, former Bajaj Group chairman and veteran industrialist, dies at 83

He then went on to act in hit shows such as Cagney & Lacey, Knight Rider, Matlock, Who’s the Boss? and Miami Vice. He also appeared in several movies including American Gigolo, Young Doctors in Love and Vigilante.

He is, however, best remembered for his roles in Beverly Hills Cop, Top Gun and Robert De Niro-Charles Grodin action-comedy classic Midnight Run.

Also Read: Ian McDonald of King Crimson dead at 75

Speaking about Pesce in an interview, David Permut, the Oscar-nominated Hacksaw Ridge producer, shared a story about Pesce and 29th Street, the movie which was based on the actor’s early life story.

“One of the most memorable experiences I had was producing 29th Street, a film based on Frank’s early life in NYC when he wound up with a winning lottery ticket.  I had sold Frank’s real-life story to United Artists and hired George Gallo to write the script, only to find out afterward that Frank also had sold his exclusive life rights to Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer at Paramount at the same time! I exploded at Frank, he then tried defend himself saying, ‘We’ll, there is no guarantee either studio would actually make the film after the scripts were developed, and a least I got two horses in the race, instead of just one.’ I was ready to kill him! I called Don Simpson, who fortunately I had a good relationship with, and he actually laughed, and let it go. Thank God, because to this day, I never shared the story with John Goldwyn, who made the development deal with us at UA while he was head of production,” he said during the interview.