'Beverly Hills Cop' star dies at 76: 'There's no smoking in heaven'

A “Beverly Hills Cop” star whose acting career spanned more than five decades is dead at age 76.

Variety reports John Ashton, best known for playing Detective Sergeant John Taggart in all four “Beverly Hills Cop” movies, died Thursday in Fort Collins, Colorado. A cause of death has not been announced.

”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. 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 Heaven, John,” co-star Judge Reinhold wrote in a social media tribute to Ashton.

Reinhold and Ashton both played members of the Beverly Hills Police Department who become friends with Eddie Murphy’s Axel Foley, a Detroit cop investigating a murder with California connections in 1984′s “Beverly Hills Cop.” They trio reunited for multiple sequels, including 2024′s “Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F,” which promoted Ashton’s character to police chief.

Ashton’s credits include nearly 100 other movies and TV shows, including 1987′s “Some Kind of Wonderful” (as Eric Stoltz’s father) and 1988′s “Midnight Run” (opposite Robert De Niro and Charles Grodin). Ashton also appeared in “An Eye for an Eye,” “Gone Baby Gone,” “Borderline,” “Columbo,” “Police Story,” “Barnaby Jones,” “M*A*S*H,” “Starsky & Hutch,” “Dallas,” “Little Big League,” “The Twilight Zone,” “She’s Having a Baby,” “Hardball,” “Last Resort,” “Middle Men,” “Meet the Deedles,” and “The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension.”

Survivors reportedly include Ashton’s wife of 24 years, Robin Hoye; children Michelle Ashton and Michael Thomas Ashton; step-children Courtney Donovan, Lindsay Curcio and Ashley Hoye; grandson Henry; sisters Sharon Ann Ashton and Linda Jean Ashton; and brother Edward Richard Ashton.

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