John Ashton, ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ Actor, Dies at 76

John Ashton, who played John Taggart in the “Beverly Hills Cop” movies, died Thursday at his home in Fort Collins, Colorado, a representative for the actor shared with TheWrap. Ashton was 76 years old.

While he was best known for his role as Taggart — including in this year’s “Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F” — Ashton’s career spanned more than 200 film, television and stage productions. He played Detective Taggart in the first two “Beverly Hills Cop” films alongside Eddie Murphy before returning to the role for July’s Netflix continuation.

Ashton’s additional credits include the John Hughes films “Some Kind of Wonderful” and “She’s Having a Baby,” “Midnight Run,” “Gone Baby Gone” and “Little Big League.”

Ashton told Nerds of Color in July that returning to the film franchise just felt right. “We developed the characters in the first one. Martin Brest gave us the freedom to run with it and develop our characters, and we grew and grew and grew and we became Taggart and Rosewood, and Axel, you know?” the late performer said. “Going back to this one was like a family reunion, we just fell right back into it.”

John Ashton was born on Feb. 22, 1948, in Springfield, Massachusetts. He graduated from Enfield High School and attended Defiance College in Defiance, Ohio for two years before he transferred to the University of Southern California and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Theater Arts.

He is survived by his wife, Robin Hoye; children Michelle Ashton, Michael Thomas Ashton; step-children Courtney Donovan, Lindsay (Brandon) Curcio and Ashley Hoye (Ryan Roby); grandson Henry; and sisters Sharon Ann Ashton, Linda Jean Ashton and brother Edward Richard (Ann) Ashton, Jr., as well as Sharon’s husband Kenneth R. Neill.

A celebration of life for Ashton will be held at a future date, while the family requests any donations in his honor be made to Pathways Hospice Care in Fort Collins.

Variety was first to report this news.

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