Once Gripped by ‘Vice,’ John Diehl Now Offers a Lesson in Mortality

John Diehl is offering an explanation--which sounds a lot like an apology--for his three-year commitment to series TV in the ‘80s.

“I was broke, and they dangled this contract,” says the actor, who played scruffy Det. Larry Zito on “Miami Vice” from 1984-87. “I did the first two seasons, and they knew I wanted out--but then they made me hang around for seven non-consecutive shows.” Eventually, Zito was killed off in a boxing story line. “I don’t regret the decision to leave,” Diehl says. “If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have gone to Nicaragua, or done ‘A Lie of the Mind’ (at the Taper in 1988). And I wasn’t making that much money.”

Now he is back onstage at the Met Theatre in Rob Sullivan’s “The Inn of the Mortal Man,” a solo show save the presence of an acoustic bassist. (The evening opens with Sullivan reading his own poetry, accompanied by Doors drummer John Densmore.)

“It’s not really a morality play, but a mortality play,” Diehl says of the 35-minute work. “He’s a guy who’s recalling an experience that happened a long time ago: scary, sad, bad, beautiful--all the things that are life.”

Ohio-born, Diehl ventured to New York at 19 (“I saw the movie ‘West Side Story’ and thought, ‘I want to go there’ ”) and moved in with his actress sister. Newly married to singer Julie Christensen, Diehl is looking forward to the birth of their son in January.