Actor Harris Yulin dies aged 87 following heart attack
12 June 2025, 09:06
Scarface, Bean and Ozark actor Harris Yulin has passed away, with Michael Hoffman leading tributes to the TV, film and Broadway star.
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Harris Yulin, the revered actor whose career spanned six decades across film, television, and stage, has died at the age of 87.
His family and long-time manager, Sue Leibman, confirmed he passed away on Tuesday (June 10) in New York City following a heart attack.
Yulin was best known to many for his roles in landmark films such as Scarface (1983), where he portrayed corrupt police officer Mel Bernstein, and Ghostbusters II (1989), in which he played the stern and comical Judge Stephen Wexler.
His impressive résumé also included a memorable role as George Grierson in Bean (1997), as well as a recurring appearance on the Netflix series Ozark. In 1996, he earned an Emmy nomination for his guest performance on the sitcom Frasier.
Born in Los Angeles in 1937, Yulin began his acting journey on the New York stage, making his debut in 1963 in James Saunders' Next Time I'll Sing to You.
He would go on to become a fixture on Broadway, where his performances in productions such as Hedda Gabler, The Price, The Visit, and a 1980 revival of Lillian Hellman's Watch on the Rhine earned him the status of a stage legend.
At the time of his death, Yulin was preparing to begin work on a new chapter in his career, a leading role in American Classic, a forthcoming MGM+ series directed by Michael Hoffman and co-starring Kevin Kline and Laura Linney.
In a heartfelt tribute, Hoffman described Yulin as "very simply one of the greatest artists I have ever encountered."
"His marriage of immense technique with an always fresh sense of discovery gave his work an immediacy and vitality and purity I've experienced nowhere else," Hoffman said: "And what he was as an actor, he was as a man — the grace, the humility, the generosity. All of us at American Classic have been blessed by our experience with him. He will always remain the beating heart of our show."
Yulin's family shared that he had been deeply moved to work with Hoffman and with fellow artists he had long admired.
He is survived by his wife, actress Kristen Lowman. his son-in-law, artist Ted Mineo, and his nephew, Martin Crane. His daughter, actress Claire Lucido, died in 2022.
