John Ashton has died. Ashton’s manager Alan Somers confirmed this The Hollywood Reporter that the Beverly Hills police officer Stern died on Thursday. No official cause of death has been announced. He was 76.

Ashton was a prolific character actor, appearing in over 200 productions on stage and screen. Perhaps best known as Sgt. Taggart Rein Beverly Hills police officerAshton gave aspiring movie star Eddie Murphy the grounding he needed to play a cop frustrated with the hot out-of-towner. The film was a huge success and became one of the most influential action comedies of all time, thanks in part to Ashton for anchoring the comedy in a street cop milieu. He appeared in the first two Beverly Hills police officer films and returned for Netflix’s recent Legacy sequel, Beverly Hills cop: Axel F.

“The original script was very serious,” Ashton said CBR. “When Eddie took over, they started adding humor, but we kept the edge so the story is still there.

Maintaining the edginess of another groundbreaking action comedy, Ashton reunited with his Beverly Hills police officer Director Martin Brest for the 1986s Midnight runwith Robert De Niro and Charles Grodin. Playing Marvin Dolfer, one of the “dumbest bounty hunters alive” who couldn’t deliver a bottle of milk, Ashton once again underpins the frantic, crazy plot with palpable frustration and annoyance.

John Ashton was born on February 22, 1948 in Springfield, Massachusetts and attended the University of Southern California School of Theater before moving into television. As soon as Ashton hit the small screen, he made the rounds and appeared in 70s classics Kojak, Columbo, Barnaby JonesAnd M*A*S*H. Towards the end of the decade he achieved a brief success Dallas and the film and television adaptation of Break away. During this time, Ashton racked up credits and played cops and trainers The psychopath, Honky Tonk FreewayAnd The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai in the 8th Dimension.

In 1984 he starred in Beverly Hills police officer as Sgt. John Taggart, which led to a successful career as a reliable Hollywood character actor. He played the lead role in the film written by John Hughes Somehow wonderful as Eric Stoltz’s blue-collar father before appearing in the Hughes-directed films She’s having a baby And Curly Sue. He continued to work and act in Hollywood throughout the ’90s and 2000s Little big league, Gone, baby goneAnd instinct.

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