The death has been announced of the American actor John Ashton, best known for his roles in the Beverly Hills Cop franchise and Midnight Run. He was 76.
Ashton's manager, Alan Somers, told the US entertainment trade publication The Hollywood Reporter that Ashton died on Thursday 26 September in Fort Collins, Colorado, after a brief battle with cancer.
Massachusetts-born Ashton's screen career spanned over 50 years and numerous films and television shows, but it is for his performances as the volatile Detective Sergeant John Taggart in the original Beverly Hills Cop and the hapless bounty hunter Marvin Dorfler in Midnight Run - both directed by Martin Brest - that he will be best remembered.
Ashton reprised his role as Taggart opposite Eddie Murphy and Judge Reinhold in 1987's Beverly Hills Cop II and this year's fourth instalment, Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F.
On television, his many other credits included Kojak, Columbo, M*A*S*H, Starsky & Hutch, Dallas, and The A-Team.
On the big screen, he also starred in Breaking Away, Some Kind of Wonderful, She's Having a Baby, Curly Sue, and Gone Baby Gone.
Paying tribute, his Beverly Hills Cop co-star Judge Reinhold wrote: "Thursday night John seemed like he was sleeping but the Yankees were on. They won the game, clinched the division then John made it to home.
"Forty years of laughs on screen and off. John LIVED his life!
"My brother, my partner, my Sarge - I love you.
There's no smoking in Heaven, John."
Thursday night John seemed like he was sleeping but the Yankees were on. They won the game, clinched the division then John made it to home.
— Judge Reinhold (@JudgeReinhold) September 29, 2024
Forty years of laughs on screen and off. John LIVED his life!
My brother, my partner, my Sarge - I love you.
There's no smoking in… pic.twitter.com/auysWWGzxN
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