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

John Ashton, ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ Actor, Dies at 76.
Mr. Ashton was most widely recognized for his role as Sgt. John Taggart in the “Beverly Hills Cop” franchise.

John Ashton, the actor best known for his role as the gruff Sgt. John Taggart in the “Beverly Hills Cop” franchise, died on Thursday in Fort Collins, Colo. He was 76.

His death was confirmed by his representative, Alan Somers. No cause was given.

Mr. Ashton appeared in more than 200 stage, film and television productions in his more than 50-year career. He is most widely recognized for his role as Sergeant Taggart in the “Beverly Hills Cop” movies.
Sergeant Taggart is a stuffy rule stickler whose partner is a younger, laid-back detective, Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold). In “Beverly Hills Cop” (1984), they help a fast, young officer from Detroit named Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) track down the person who murdered his best friend, and along the way learn how to bend the rules and why a banana does not belong in the tailpipe of a cruiser.
Taggart and Rosewood were originally cast for minor roles in the film, but they became co-stars once Mr. Murphy came on board as Foley, Mr. Ashton said in a 2020 interview with MovieJunk, a podcast and a YouTube channel. The film’s director, Martin Brest, saw the spark the three men shared, he said. “We just started developing a chemistry, and Marty saw it and loved it, and just kept letting us ad-lib and run with scenes,” Mr. Ashton said.
Mr. Ashton reprised his role in the 1987 sequel, “Beverly Hills Cop II,” and again in “Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F,” which was released this past July, again reuniting him with Mr. Reinhold and Mr. Murphy.
“Going back to this one was like a family reunion — we just fell right back into it,” Mr. Ashton said in a July interview with “Nerds of Color,” a website and YouTube channel that examines superheroes, sci-fi, fantasy and video games through a culturally critical eye.
John David Ashton was born on Feb. 22, 1948, in Springfield, Mass., and grew up in Enfield, Conn. He graduated from the University of Southern California with a degree in theater arts.

In the 2020 interview with MovieJunk, Mr. Ashton described himself as having been a troublemaking child from a rough town whose mother had threatened to send him off to military school. He began acting at a young age and discovered the joy it could bring him and others, and how it could keep him out of trouble, he said.
“It saved my life, probably,” he said.

Mr. Ashton began his career largely in stage acting in the 1960s. His critically acclaimed performance as Lee in Sam Shepard’s “True West,” with Ed Harris at the South Coast Repertory Theater in 1981 in Costa Mesa, Calif., eventually earned him an audition for “Beverly Hills Cop,” he said.

After “Beverly Hills Cop II,” Mr. Ashton played the bounty hunter Marvin Dorfler in the 1988 action comedy “Midnight Run,” opposite Robert De Niro. Mr. Ashton said De Niro had handpicked him for the role after the two ran a scene together.