John Ashton, the veteran character actor known for his role as John Taggart in the “Beverly Hills Cop” films, has died.

The 76-year-old died last Thursday in Fort Collins, Colorado, his family said in a statement released by Ashton’s manager Alan Somers.

No cause of death was immediately announced.

In a career spanning more than 50 years, Ashton has been a regular on television series and films, including “Midnight Run,” “Little Big League” and “Gone Baby Gone.”

Ashton played Detective Sergeant John Taggart in the first two Beverly Hills Cop films, released in 1984 and 1987, alongside Eddie Murphy and Judge Reinhold.

While Murphy’s Axel Foley starred, Reinhold’s Billy Rosewood and Ashton’s Taggart were the sometimes reluctant, sometimes eager collaborators.

Ashton reprized his role in the 2024 Netflix reboot “Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F,” in which his character is now the police chief.

And in 1988, he played a rival bounty hunter to Robert De Niro’s Jack Walsh in the buddy comedy Midnight Run as the pair pursued a former Mafia accountant.

Speaking to Collider in July, Ashton recalled auditioning for the film with De Niro.

“Bobby started giving me these matches and I went to get them and he threw them on the floor and stared at me,” he said.

“I was looking at the matches and I looked up and said, ‘F*** you,’ and he said, ‘F*** you too.’

“I said, ‘F*** yourself.’

“I know every other actor picked that up and gave it to him, and when I left I found out he said, ‘I want him,’ because he wanted someone to stand up to him.”

Ashton is survived by his wife Robin Hoye, two children, three stepchildren, a grandson, two sisters and a brother.

AP