According to Kevin Smith, it wasn't easy to direct Bruce Willis while making Cop Out, since Willis had played the smirking cop so often in his career that he felt he knew the character (and his own movie star persona) better than Smith did. Certainly, Willis has worked in cinematic law enforcement a number of times, but has he played more cop roles than all his peers? Movieline decided to find out by doing a little bit of resume-skimming for some of today's top actors.
The rules? The star has to be alive, sequels count (since they contribute to the perception that the actor often plays a cop), and we're focusing on regular cop cops, not military men or federal employees like ATF or CIA agents. Here's what we found:
Bruce Willis
Die Hard (1988) .... John McClane
Die Hard 2 (1990) .... John McClane
The Last Boy Scout (1991) .... Joe Hallenbeck
Striking Distance (1993) .... Det. Tom Hardy
Die Hard: With a Vengeance (1995) .... John McClane
Sin City (2005) .... Hartigan
Hostage (2005) .... Jeff Talley
16 Blocks (2006) .... Det. Jack Mosley
Live Free or Die Hard (2007) .... John McClane
Surrogates (2009) .... Tom Greer
Cop Out (2010) .... Jimmy Monroe
It's hard to argue that Willis has a lock on the top spot here, having played a police officer 11 times, although four of his cop claims to fame are from the Die Hard franchise. Take those out, though, and Willis still has a fairly impressive resume.
Clint Eastwood
Coogan's Bluff (1968) .... Coogan
Dirty Harry (1971) .... Harry Callahan
Magnum Force (1973) .... Harry Callahan
The Enforcer (1976/I) .... Harry Callahan
The Gauntlet (1977) .... Ben Shockley
Sudden Impact (1983) .... Harry Callahan
City Heat (1984) .... Lieutenant Speer
Tightrope (1984) .... Capt. Wes Block
The Dead Pool (1988) .... Harry Callahan
The Rookie (1990) .... Nick Pulovski
Like Willis, Eastwood's cop career is somewhat inflated by five Dirty Harry movies. Of course, if we're talking about who's played the most gunslinging roles, Eastwood would have this locked up.
Mel Gibson
Mad Max (1979) .... Max
Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981) .... Max
Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985) .... Max
Lethal Weapon (1987) .... Sergeant Martin Riggs
Lethal Weapon 2 (1989) .... Martin Riggs
Lethal Weapon 3 (1992) .... Martin Riggs
Lethal Weapon 4 (1998) .... Martin Riggs
The Million Dollar Hotel (2000) .... Detective Skinner
Complete Savages (2004) .... Officer Cox
Edge of Darkness (2010) .... Thomas Craven
Mel Gibson's recent role in Edge of Darkness was actually an exception for him, since he's actually played very few cop roles outside of the Lethal Weapon and Mad Max franchises. If you haven't seen The Million Dollar Hotel, or happened to catch a few stray episodes of the Gibson-produced sitcom Complete Savages, you've missed most of them.
Sylvester Stallone
Nighthawks (1981) .... Det. Sgt. Deke DaSilva
Cobra (1986) .... Lieutenant Marion 'Cobra' Cobretti
Tango & Cash (1989) .... Lt. Raymond Tango
Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot (1992) .... Sgt. Joe Bomowski
Demolition Man (1993) .... John Spartan
Judge Dredd (1995) .... Judge Dredd
Cop Land (1997) .... Freddy Heflin
D-Tox (2002) .... Jake Malloy
Tough guy Stallone has played an onscreen cop eight times, and none of those were sequels. If you're looking for the actor who's played the most cops, he's your man.
Harrison Ford
The Mod Squad (1968) .... Beach Patrol Cop
More American Graffiti (1979) .... Officer Bob Falfa
Blade Runner (1982) .... Rick Deckard
Witness (1985) .... Det. Capt. John Book
The Devil's Own (1997) .... Tom O'Meara
Random Hearts (1999) .... Dutch Van Den Broeck
Hollywood Homicide (2003) .... Sgt. Joe Gavilan
Ford's two earliest credit on the list were minor ones: an episode of The Mod Squad and an uncredited role in More American Graffiti. Still, the actor's gruff demeanor makes him an ideal onscreen law enforcer.
Robert De Niro
Mad Dog and Glory (1993) .... Wayne 'Mad Dog' Dobie
Cop Land (1997) .... Moe Tilden
15 Minutes (2001) .... Detective Eddie Flemming
Showtime (2002) .... Det. Mitch Preston
City by the Sea (2002) .... Vincent LaMarca
Righteous Kill (2008) .... Tom 'Turk' Cowan
Fun fact: De Niro spent the first half of his career playing hoodlums, and he'll spend the last half playing the men who bust them. What once seemed an against-type casting in Mad Dog and Glory now seems par for the course, as De Niro has played several cops over the last twenty years -- and we're not even counting his former CIA operative in Meet the Parents or his clear obsession with the agency as evidenced by The Good Shepherd, which he directed.
Will Smith
Bad Boys (1995) .... Mike Lowery
Men in Black (1997) .... N.Y.P.D Ofcr. James Darrel Edwards III
Bad Boys II (2003) .... Mike Lowery
I, Robot (2004) .... Del Spooner
Many of the older actors on this list started playing cops early in their career, but today's young actors rarely do -- and whether that says more about their role choices or about the type of actor who's now popular, I'll leave to you to decide. Still, Will Smith has some cop credits to boast about, though they often involve a futuristic twist.
Johnny Depp
21 Jump Street .... Officer Tom Hanson (71 episodes, 1987-1990)
Sleepy Hollow (1999) .... Ichabod Crane
From Hell (2001) .... Inspector Frederick Abberline
Willowy Johnny Depp may have become famous for playing an undercover cop on 21 Jump Street, but if you leave out his FBI agent in Donnie Brasco, he's only played a cop twice more -- and in Sleepy Hollow and From Hell, the compromised characters were hardly ideal archetypes.
Brad Pitt
No Way Out (1987) .... Airport Cop
Cool World (1992) .... Detective Frank Harris
Se7en (1995) .... Detective David Mills
Brad Pitt is one of the biggest actors working, but he's only played a cop three times, and one of those times was as an uncredited extra in No Way Out. Is he saving law enforcement for later in his career?
Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon
The Departed (2006)
If you can believe it, Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon have only played cops once, and it was during the cat-and-mouse game that was The Departed. And no, DiCaprio's "fed-ah-rul mah-shull" from Shutter Island doesn't count.
Tom Cruise
Minority Report (2002) .... Chief John Anderton
I'm as surprised as you are. Tom! Did you never plays Cops and Robbers as a kid, or experience a career epiphany while watching some good Chris Noth Law & Order episodes on cable? Audiences may be wary of you these days, but the police department is always looking for a few good men.