Eddie Murphy: Hollywood's $2 billion man talks about his marriage, 'Beverly Hills Cop III' and the joys of fatherhood

Ebony, June, 1994 by Walter Leavy

It's one of those things few of Hollywood's best can claim they have done. Denzel hasn't done it. Billy Dee hasn't done it. Even Richard Pryor, as tremendously successful as he has been, hasn't reached the pedestal that Eddie Murphy has climbed upon.

In the 12 years since he parlayed his comedic talents into a spectacular movie career--beginning with the 1982 release of 48 Hours--Murphy's 12 films have generated more than $2 billion in worldwide receipts, making him the most successful Black actor in Hollywood history.

But although he's proud of his accomplishment and quick to give credit to those trailblazing Black actors who paved the way for him, the 33-year-old Murphy says his success isn't something that has consumed him and, surprisingly, isn't even a topic of conversation. "You know, if I talk about it, [critics say] I'm patting myself on the back," he says. "I don't even think about it because it's not something that's talked about [in the media]. When people talk about me, they are talking about how [poorly] my last movie did. They [critics] don't look at my stuff factually."

If you look at the numbers from opening weekends, Murphy--during the past decade--has not only been the most popular Black actor, he has been the most popular actor, period. In Hollywood, the best gauge for determining an actor's popularity is in his or her ability to attract filmgoers on opening weekends. And when it comes to what moviemakers call "opening a picture," no one does it better than Murphy. Not Arnold Schwarzenegger; who's generally perceived to be the No. 1 box office star. Not Sylvester Stallone. Not Tom Cruise. Not Kevin Costner; Robert Redford or Jack Nicholson. When it comes to delivering a first big weekend, Murphy, according to a recent Hollywood survey, is the only actor who consistenly delivers $10 million-plus openings (an average of $16.86 million for his last eight movies). In addition, he's the only star to have his movies shown on more than 2,000 movie screens on a regular basis.

Murphy's ability to put people in the seats will be tested again on Memorial Day weekend when his 13th movie, the long-awaited Beverly Hills Cop III, opens nationwide, with co-stars Judge Reinhold, Hector Elizondo, Theresa Randle and Alan Young. In this installment, Murphy's character; Detroit police detective Axel Foley, returns to Beverly Hills to solve a murder and uncovers a criminal network at a popular amusement park called Wonderland. This movie, Murphy says, is "infinitely better than Beverly Hills Cop II" (which made about $300 million), and it's also different from the trilogy's first installment because Axel is more mature and no longer the wisecracking rookie cop.

The release of the new movie comes a year after Murphy's spectacular; star-studded wedding, which some called "1993's wedding of the year." Since his marriage to model Nicole Mitchell, he says he has easily slipped into his role as a husband and that being with her "feels as natural as being with my mother, father or brothers." In March, the couple celebrated their first anniversary during a week-long stay in Montego Bay, Jamaica, and they are expecting their third child in October. "This first year of marriage," Murphy says, "has been total bliss."

The happiness on the homefront, though, has been tempered a bit by one of Hollywood's peculiarities. Although Murphy is at the pinnacle of his success, some critics continue to say (since Beverly Hills Cop II in 1987) the entertainer's movie career has been on the decline--even though his films do well at the box office. During the period since Beverly Hills Cop II, he has starred in the stand-up comedy film Eddie Murphy Rate ($53 million, the highest-grossing concert film of its kind), Coming to America ($255 million), Harlem Nights ($98 million), Another 48 Hours ($154 million), Boomerang ($132 million) and The Distinguished Gentleman ($85 million).

"If my movie career goes on the decline, I won't be the first actor whose movie career went on the decline," Murphy says matter of factly. "If and when my movie career is over; I've done something that no other Black person has done in films of the people I've reached with my films. These movies have been successful the world over. So if my train stops tomorrow, what am I going to do, hang my head in shame? The reality of it is if my career was on the decline, then I wouldn't be making movies because they [moviemakers] don't give Black people money in Hollywood just because they are swell. You know, |Oh, he's swell so let's just give him some money.",

Paramount or another studio is sure to give Murphy a huge bundle of money when his current contract expires after he does two more movies for Paramount. With his ability to, as some say, "carry a studio," Eddie is likely to set off a bidding war unlike any seen in Hollywood history. But setting a precedent in Hollywood is nothing new to Murphy, who is entertainment's version of a Renaissance man (an actor, writer; comedian, producer, director and recording artist). When he signed his first movie contract--a five-picture, $15 million deal with Paramount in 1983--it contained, at the time, the biggest personal service deal in movie history. As an incentive to sign the contract, Paramount reportedly gave the young actor a whopping $4 million cash bonus, making him "Tinseltown's first bonus baby," much like the superstar athletes who get huge sums of money as incentives to sign with professional sports teams.