Veteran actor Harris Yulin, known for his memorable roles in “Scarface,” “Training Day” and “Ghostbusters II,” died Tuesday, June 10, 2025, of cardiac arrest in New York City. He was 87.
Yulin’s manager Sue Leibman and his family confirmed his death in a statement released Thursday. The family noted that Yulin was “part of the vanguard of a generation who cared passionately about the craft of acting.”
Born November 5, 1937, in Los Angeles, Yulin was abandoned as an infant and left on the steps of an orphanage. He was adopted at four months old and raised in a Jewish household by a Russian family who gave him his surname. Yulin discovered his passion for acting during his bar mitzvah, describing the experience as life-changing and enjoyable, contrary to his friends’ negative reactions to performing before large audiences.
After studying acting at UCLA, Yulin moved to New York to pursue a theater career. He made his stage debut in 1963 in “Next Time I’ll Sing to You” opposite James Earl Jones and Estelle Parsons. His Broadway career began in 1980 with “Watch on the Rhine” and included notable productions such as “The Price,” “The Visit,” “The Diary of Anne Frank” and “Hedda Gabler.”
Yulin’s film debut came in 1970 with “End of the Road” alongside Stacy Keach. The following year, he earned critical acclaim for portraying Wyatt Earp in the revisionist Western “Doc,” again opposite Keach as Doc Holliday. Roger Ebert praised their performances, noting their quiet ability to project willingness to do violence without overacting.
Throughout his five-decade career, Yulin accumulated more than 100 film and television credits. In “Scarface” (1983), he portrayed corrupt Miami detective Mel Bernstein, who attempted to extort money from Al Pacino’s Tony Montana. His other notable film roles included a manipulative national security adviser in “Clear and Present Danger” (1994), corrupt cop Rosselli in “Training Day” (2001), and the dismissive Judge Stephen Wexler in “Ghostbusters II” (1989).
On television, Yulin earned a Primetime Emmy nomination in 1996 for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his role as crime boss Jerome Belasco on “Frasier.” His television appearances spanned numerous series including “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” where he played Quentin Travers, head of the Watchers’ Council, and “24,” portraying NSA director Roger Stanton.
In recent years, Yulin appeared in Netflix series “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” as Orson, the father of David Cross’ character, and “Ozark” as Buddy Dieker, an eccentric old man with a criminal past. His other television credits included “WIOU,” “Veep,” “Billions,” “The X-Files,” “Entourage,” and “The Blacklist.”
Beyond acting, Yulin served as a stage director, overseeing productions of “The Glass Menagerie,” “The Trip to Bountiful,” “This Lime Tree Bower,” “Men’s Lives” and “The Man Who Came to Dinner.” He also taught at prestigious institutions including Juilliard, Columbia University and HB Studio.
Yulin portrayed historical figures throughout his career, including J. Edgar Hoover in the 1974 CBS telefilm “The F.B.I. Story: The FBI Versus Alvin Karpis, Public Enemy Number One” and Senator Joseph McCarthy in the 1985 CBS miniseries “Robert Kennedy and His Times.” On the PBS series “Meeting of Minds,” he appeared as both Leonardo da Vinci and Shakespeare in separate 1979 episodes.
At the time of his death, Yulin was preparing to begin production on the MGM+ series “American Classic,” starring Kevin Kline, Laura Linney and Jon Tenney. The series, directed by Michael Hoffman, had begun production on the East Coast, and Yulin was scheduled to start filming his role the week following his death. His role will be recast.
Hoffman, who previously directed Yulin in the 2005 film “Game 6,” described him as “very simply one of the greatest artists I have ever encountered.” The director praised Yulin’s combination of immense technique with fresh discovery, creating work with immediacy, vitality and purity. Hoffman added that Yulin possessed grace, humility and generosity both as an actor and as a person.
Yulin dated actress Faye Dunaway from 1971 to 1972, when they co-starred in the Western film “Doc.” He was married to actress Gwen Welles from 1975 until her death in 1993. Yulin is survived by his second wife, actress Kristen Lowman, son-in-law Ted Mineo, nephew Martin Crane, and godchildren Marco and Lara Greenberg. He was preceded in death by his daughter, actress Claire Lucido, who died in 2021.
His family remembered him as an avid birder and lover of the sea. A memorial service will be held at a later date.
