10 Best Unsung Actors From Each Movie Genre

There are plenty of actors out there built to play overworked detectives who live for their job, and most of them showed up at some point on episodes of Homicide: Life on the Streets. Richard Belzer's uber paranoid leftist Munch is probably the best-loved character, and it's worth noting that all of them were based on actual Baltimore cops who had some issues with how their TV counterparts behaved (particularly the real Bayliss, who resented the character's bi-curious arc).

It's both tragic and telling of nineties TV that Jon Polito, who played the show's Abe Lincoln conspiracy-obsessed cop Steve Crosetti, was killed off after a season.

"I'm furious they had me commit suicide," Polito told the Orlando Sentinel in 1994, shortly after the episode where his character's body washed up on shore after supposedly having a blowout in Atlantic City. "It's the last thing I would do."

He spoke out rather viciously at the show's decision. There's no official account, but based on the material available, the character seemed to be eliminated out of a personal grudge with producer Tom Fontana, and had to do with too many male cast members. Whatever the case, Polito regrets being so vociferous.

Homicide killed a good thing. Polito was already respected, having given a dynamite turn in the Coen Bros.' Miller's Crossing. And his legacy as a hardworking cop had already passed through Miami Vice, CHUD, Wiseguy, The Equalizer and Highlander.