About John Ashton (actor)
John David Ashton (February 22, 1948 – September 26, 2024) was an American actor, known for his roles in the Beverly Hills Cop films, Some Kind of Wonderful, and Midnight Run. == Biography == Born in Springfield, Massachusetts, Ashton attended Defiance College in Ohio and was a graduate of the University of Southern California School of Theatre and Dance. He attended Enfield High School in Enfield, Connecticut. Ashton made numerous appearances in both television and feature films. He played Willie Joe Garr on several episodes of Dallas. He appeared in an episode of Columbo, "Negative Reaction", and in episode 5 of Police Squad!, "Rendezvous at Big Gulch (Terror in the Neighborhood)". His early film credits included roles in An Eye for an Eye (1973), Breaking Away (1979), Borderline (1980), Honky Tonk Freeway (1981), Last Resort (1986) and King Kong Lives (1986). Ashton starred as Detective Sergeant John Taggart in the first two installments of the Beverly Hills Cop series, alongside Eddie Murphy and Judge Reinhold. He appeared as Eric Stoltz's character's father in the 1987 John Hughes-penned comedy-drama Some Kind of Wonderful, and worked with Hughes again in She's Having a Baby in 1988. In 1988, he co-starred in the action-comedy Midnight Run as a rival bounty hunter to Robert De Niro's character.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.