Biography: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Daniel Petrie, Jr. (born 1952), the son of Daniel Petrie, Sr., is perhaps best known as the one of the screenwriters of the mid-1980s hit movie, Beverly Hills Cop and The Big Easy as well as the director of Toy Soldiers. He is currently (October 2004) president of the western chapter of the Writers Guild of America. Description above from the Wikipedia article Daniel Petrie, Jr., licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.