John Ashton, the actor known for his role in Beverly Hills Cop, has passed away at the age of 76.

 John Ashton, the seasoned character actor renowned for his role as the gruff yet endearing police detective John Taggart in the Beverly Hills Cop films, has passed away at the age of 76.

Ashton died on Thursday in Fort Collins, Colorado, with his family announcing the news in a statement from his manager, Alan Somers, on Sunday. The cause of death has not been disclosed.

With a career spanning over 50 years, Ashton was a familiar presence on both television and in films, appearing in titles like Midnight Run, Little Big League, and Gone Baby Gone.

In the Beverly Hills Cop series, Ashton was a crucial member of a memorable trio. While Eddie Murphy’s Axel Foley, a Detroit detective investigating a case in Los Angeles, took the lead, Ashton’s Taggart and Judge Reinhold’s Billy Rosewood often found themselves reluctantly yet eagerly assisting him.

Among the trio, Taggart—affectionately called “Sarge” by Billy—was the more cautious, rule-following detective, but he often got roped into Axel’s adventurous schemes. Ashton reprised his role across all four films, starting with the original in 1984 and concluding with the recent Netflix reboot, Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, released earlier this year.

In the 1988 buddy comedy Midnight Run, Ashton portrayed a rival bounty hunter chasing Charles Grodin’s wanted accountant, "The Duke," while he was in the custody of Robert De Niro’s Jack Walsh.

Recalling his audition with De Niro in a July interview with Collider, Ashton shared, “Bobby started handing me these matches, and when I went to grab them, he threw them on the floor and stared at me. I looked at the matches, then back at him and said, ‘F—- you,’ and he replied, ‘F—- you, too.’ I told him, ‘Go —- yourself.’ I learned later that every other actor picked those up, but he wanted someone who could stand up to him.”

Ashton is survived by his wife, Robin Hoye, with whom he shared 24 years, as well as two children, three stepchildren, a grandson, two sisters, and a brother.