Judge Reinhold Blames Studio Executives for His Career's Dip — Here's Where He Is Now
"It was basically an executive murder plot," Judge said about what happened to his career trajectory.
Published July 1 2024, 11:13 a.m. ET
Actor Judge Reinhold dominated the Hollywood movie scene in the '80s. His popular movie roles and television sitcom appearances cemented his spot in entertainment history.
However, he's been laying low lately, so we thought we'd find out what he's been up to. After the decade ended, Judge stayed in acting, securing more work easily given his credentialed past.
Where is Judge Reinhold now?
Following his '80s frenzy, Judge dipped into some supporting roles for productions like Rosalie Goes Shopping and Daddy's Dyin': Who's Got the Will?. Plus, he starred in the 1991 classics Enid Is Sleeping and Zandalee.
Judge then got in on a majorly successful franchise, The Santa Clause. This helped him secure work going forward since the movie had some sequels, The Santa Clause 2 and The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause.
However, Judge is aware that his career did have a dip for awhile after that spark in the '80s. Apparently, he's pointing figure at an industry executive for briefly tanking his career.
"It was basically an executive murder plot," he told People. "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. The downside with David was he wanted to bring the price of lead actors down, but make the backend profits real. I believed him. I really did. And he wasn’t, unfortunately, around long enough to prove that formula."
He noticed that it all started toward the tail-end of the '80s, forcing him to lose traction going into the '90s. "What happened was Dudley Moore and Kirk Cameron’s Like Father Like Son," the actor shared.
"Tri-Star Pictures threw [Vice Versa] into production while we were already shooting. 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 added.
Luckily, his career wasn't stalled forever. Most recently, Judge reprised his role as Detective Billy Rosewood in the upcoming Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F. So, it doesn't look like the star's career is slowing down any time soon.
As for his personal life, he was charged for disorderly contact in 2017 after fighting with a TSA agent, according to The Dallas Morning News. He pled no contest to the charges.
"I am sorry for being such a dumba-- with the TSA," he said in a statement, "and continue to respect and support the work of the Dallas Police Department."
The charges were later dismissed since Judge didn't get into any additional trouble in Dallas. After all, the star was living in New Mexico at the time and wasn't spending loads in Texas.
Is Judge Reinhold married?
Yes, Judge is married to Amy Reinhold and they have a daughter together named Haley Rose. Amy is an author and screenwriter, writing the Be Still documentary in 2006.
