During the 1980s, fans of Miami Vice tuned in week after week for crime solving, colorful locations, and some very flashy suits. The stars of the show were Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas, who played partners Sonny Crockett and Rico Tubbs. It's been over 30 years since the show ended now, and the two actors have gone in different directions. While Johnson is still acting, Thomas hasn't been as active on screen recently but has worked in some other media, such as music and video games. Read on to learn about the lives the former detectives, who are now both 72 years old.
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Crockett and Tubbs are still in touch.
Bettmann / Getty ImagesDuring an interview with Good Day New York in 2021, Johnson shared that he still talks to Thomas. "I talk to Philip all the time," he said. "We stay in touch with each other. I love Philip. It’s very rare that you can say that you go to work with someone for 14 hours a day and for five years and never have a single argument. That speaks a lot about Philip, not about me."
Thomas stayed involved in the entertainment industry.
Daniel Zuchnik/WireImage via Getty ImagesFollowing his time on Miami Vice, Thomas appeared in a couple of TV movies, in the feature film Fate, and in the series Nash Bridges (which reunited him with Johnson) and We Are Angels. He has also done some voice acting, including for the video game series Grand Theft Auto. Thomas was already working in music during Miami Vice, and in 1999, he co-wrote and composed the music for a family musical called Sacha and the Magic Cookie Maker, according to his website.
He has another big claim to fame.
Thomas is credited with coining the phrase EGOT—Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony—which is used to identify people who have won all four awards. In the '80s, Thomas wore a necklace with a medallion of the four letters. According to Vanity Fair, he told a reporter in 1984, "Hopefully in the next five years I will win all of those awards." Despite being the star of a hit show, Thomas did not end up winning any of the awards, but he's also said that the letters stand for energy, growth, opportunity, and talent.
Johnson is still acting.
Featureflash Photo Agency / ShutterstockJohnson has kept acting regularly since starring in Miami Vice, including playing another detective on Nash Bridges for six seasons in the 1990s. More recently, he has been in the movies Book Club and Knives Out, and the shows Watchmen and Kenan.
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He's made headlines for his personal life.
Rodin Eckenroth/FilmMagic via Getty ImagesJohnson has also stayed in the public eye because of his personal life, including getting married five times. Two of these marriages were to Melanie Griffith, with whom he has a daughter, Dakota Johnson, who is also an actor. He also has a son, Jesse Johnson, who is an actor, with ex Patti D'Arbanville, and three children with his current wife, Kelley Phleger, to whom he has been married since 1999.
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