Serpico, a 1973 biography by Peter Maas,[24][25] sold over 3 million copies.[26] The 1973 biography was adapted for the screenplay of the 1973 film titled Serpico, which was directed by Sidney Lumet and starred Al Pacino in the title role.[25] In 1976 David Birney starred as Serpico in a TV-movie called Serpico: The Deadly Game (also known as "The Deadly Game"), broadcast on NBC. The NBC TV-movie led to a short-lived Serpico TV series the following fall on the same network.