John Ashton, best known for his role as John Taggart in the “Beverly Hills Cop” films, has died. Ashton passed away on Thursday in Fort Collins, Colorado at the age of 76. Ashton played his role of the gruff Detective Sergeant alongside Eddie Murphy and Judge Reinhold in the first two installments of the “Beverly Hills Cop” franchise in 1984 & 1987, and then reprised the role for this year’s “Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F” in which he’s now a police chief.
Ashton’s acting career began in the 1970s with films like “An Eye for an Eye” and “Breaking Away” along with numerous TV appearances on shows like “Columbo,” “MASH,” “Dallas,” “Police Woman” and “Starsky and Hutch”. In the 80s he hit his stride, having notable work with filmmaker John Hughes in both “Some Kind of Wonderful” and “She’s Having a Baby”. He then had a key role in legendary 1988 action-comedy “Midnight Run” as a rival bounty hunter to Robert De Niro’s Jack Walsh.
He also had a key supporting role in Ben Affleck’s 2007 thriller “Gone Baby Gone” and had roles in films like “Little Big League,” “Trapped in Paradise,” “Instinct,” “Meet the Deedles,” and “Fast Money”. He also had a regular role on NBC’s single season crime drama series “Hardball”, and continued to guest star on shows like “The A-Team,” “Police Squad,” “Fantasy Island,” “The Twilight Zone” and “Law and Order: SVU”. Ashton is survived by his wi.
