Veteran character actor’s career spanned over 50 years in TV and films, including Little Big League and Midnight Run

John Ashton, the veteran character actor who memorably played the gruff but lovable police detective John Taggart in the Beverly Hills Cop films, has died. He was 76.

Ashton died 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.