He was 76.
Ashton died on Thursday in Fort Collins, Colorado, his family announced in a statement released by Ashton's manager, Alan Somers, on Sunday.
No cause of death was immediately available.
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) 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/auysWWGzxNSeptember 29, 2024
In a career that spanned more than 50 years, Ashton was a regular face across TV series and films, including Midnight Run, Little Big League and Gone Baby Gone.
But in the Beverly Hills Cop films, Ashton played an essential part of an indelible trio. Though Eddie Murphy's Axel Foley, a Detroit detective following a case in Los Angeles, was the lead, the two local detectives - Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) and Ashton's Taggart - were Axel's sometimes reluctant, sometimes eager collaborators.
Of the three, Taggart - "Sarge" to Billy - was the more fearful, by-the-book detective. But he would regularly be coaxed into Axel's plans. Ashton co-starred in all four of the films, beginning with the 1984 original and running through the Netflix reboot, Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, released earlier in 2024.
Ashton played a more unscrupulous character in Martin Brest's 1988 buddy comedy Midnight Run. He was the rival bounty hunter also pursuing Charles Grodin's wanted accountant in The Duke while he's in the custody of Robert De Niro's Jack Walsh.
Judge Reinhold, Eddie Murphy and the late John Ashton in Beverly Hills, California in June. (AP PHOTO)
Speaking in July to Collider, Ashton recalled auditioning with De Niro.
"Bobby started handing me these matches, and I went to grab the matches, and he threw them on the floor and stared at me," said Ashton.
"I looked at the matches, and I looked up, and I said, 'F*** you,' and he said, 'F*** you, too.' I said, 'Go f*** yourself.' I know every other actor picked those up and handed it to him, and I found out as soon as I left he went, 'I want him,' because he wanted somebody to stand up to him."
Ashton is survived by his wife, Robin Hoye, of 24 years, two children, three stepchildren, a grandson, two sisters and a brother.
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