John Ashton, the legendary character actor finest identified for Beverly Hills Cop and Midnight Run, has handed away at 76.

John Ashton, the legendary character actor who performed the curmudgeonly (however in the end heroic) Taggart in the Beverly Hills Cop motion pictures, has died. No information but on the trigger of demise, however his passing was confirmed by his supervisor to Variety. In addition to his position as Taggart, Ashton had an extended and distinguished profession on display screen, with him additionally enjoying a memorable foil to Robert De (*76*) and Charles Grodin in Midnight Run (directed by his Beverly Hills Cop director Martin Brest). 

Ashton was additionally a favorite of the legendary John Hughes, who forged him in a small position in She’s Having a Baby earlier than giving him an enormous half (as Eric Stoltz’s father) in Some Kind of Wonderful. He additionally confirmed up in Hughes’ Curly Sue. Ashton was one of these guys who was simply in all places, with him glorious in Ben Affleck’s Gone Baby Gone, the underrated George Gallo film Middle Men, and on many, many TV exhibits and films, akin to the memorable 80s miniseries, I Know My First Name Is Steven, the place he performed notorious kidnap sufferer Steven Stayner’s father.  He additionally had an excellent position in the TV adaptation of Stephen King’s The Tommyknockers.

Ashton had only in the near past reprised his Beverly Hills Cop position reverse former co-stars Eddie Murphy and Judge Reinhold in Netflix’s Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F. In reality, I really interviewed him at the junket and located him to be a beautiful man. Just earlier than I went to interview him, I noticed him smoking a cigar on the balcony of the Beverly Hills Hotel, and after I went over to say hi there, he couldn’t have been nicer. One of the most touching moments in the interview was after I requested him whether or not he’d like to return again for yet one more Beverly Hills Cop film, and he smiled at me, assuring me that he completely would. It’s unhappy that he gained’t get the likelihood as a result of he was a very good man. 

Here’s half of the interview: