When Leonard Cohen Guest Starred on Miami Vice (1986)

Leonard Cohen was Canada’s answer to Bob Dylan. While best known per­haps as a singer-song­writer who penned the tune “Hal­lelu­jah” — which was cov­ered by Jeff Buck­ley, John Cale and just about every­one else under the sun — he was also at vary­ing points in his col­or­ful life a poet, a nov­el­ist, a law stu­dent and a Zen monk. Well, you can add to this list guest star on Mia­mi Vice. Yes. Mia­mi Vice, Michael Mann’s decade-defin­ing crime series that some­how made stub­ble, pas­tel col­ors and Don John­son cool.

Appear­ing on the episode “French Twist,” Cohen plays Fran­cois Zolan, a French secret ser­vice agent who is up to no good. Though he’s in the episode for only a cou­ple of min­utes and almost all of it on the phone, Cohen just man­ages to ooze men­ace. You can see him and some tru­ly breath­tak­ing exam­ples of ‘80s fash­ion in the clip above.

Mia­mi Vice had a habit of cast­ing music icons. Lit­tle Richard, Frank Zap­pa, Miles Davis, Willie Nel­son, and Eartha Kitt also appeared in the series. But, unlike Cohen, they didn’t act in French.

Below you can see a mon­tage of 20 rock stars who appeared on Mia­mi Vice dur­ing its run.

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Relat­ed Con­tent:

When Frank Zap­pa & Miles Davis Played a Drug Deal­er and a Pimp on Mia­mi Vice

The Poet­ry of Leonard Cohen Illus­trat­ed by Two Short Films

How Leonard Cohen & David Bowie Faced Death Through Their Art: A Look at Their Final Albums

Young Leonard Cohen Reads His Poet­ry in 1966 (Before His Days as a Musi­cian Began)

Jonathan Crow is a writer and film­mak­er whose work has appeared in Yahoo!, The Hol­ly­wood Reporter, and oth­er pub­li­ca­tions. You can fol­low him at @jonccrow.