Hollywood Actor John Ashton, An Enfield High School Alum, Dies At 76
ENFIELD, CT — Oftentimes, people from small towns across America who wind up finding success in the sports or entertainment industries tend to forget about their roots. Such was not the case, however, with John Ashton.
Ashton, a 1966 graduate of Enfield High School who went on to big screen stardom in the “Beverly Hills Cop” movie series, died Thursday at his home in Fort Collins, Colorado after a brief battle with cancer. He was 76.
He played Sgt. John Taggart alongside stars Eddie Murphy and Judge Reinhold in the first two BHC films, released in 1984 and 1987, respectively. He did not appear in the third installment, released in 1994, but returned to the fold nearly three decades later in Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, which debuted on Netflix in July 2024.
Find out what's happening in Enfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Despite his tremendous success and living in a different part of the country for his entire adult life, Ashton always maintained a strong connection to his hometown. Last fall, his brother Ed was inducted into the Enfield Athletic Hall of Fame as a member of the 1961 Suburban League football championship team, and Ashton was present at the Hall of Fame dinner at the Oak Ridge Country Club.
The next day, he and some old friends got together to share stories about their time growing up in Enfield. For the occasion, Ashton wore a shirt which read, “Enfield Connecticut, It’s Where My Story Begins.”
Find out what's happening in Enfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
It began on Francis Avenue off Route 5, where former neighbor Paul Zenczak recalled, “Played hide and seek and baseball with him on Francis Avenue in Enfield when I was a kid. Great guy. “
He became a proficient athlete, playing on a Thompsonville Little League All-Star team which made it to the state semifinals. Upon entering Enfield High School, he played football on both the offensive and defensive lines, and was also a member of an early Raider ice hockey squad.
Former neighbor and teammate Charlie Ragno told Patch, “Nobody could say a bad word about John Ashton. He was a great teammate and a great friend.”
Donna McCue said, “He was a good friend, he hung around at the pop store with us on Alden Avenue.”
“I remember John as a classmate with a witty personality, who always had a smile for everyone,” fellow 1966 grad George Van Tasel said..
Ashton developed his thespian skills while in high school, spending two years in the dramatics club and being voted Class Actor as a senior.
Upon leaving Enfield, he spent some time at Defiance College in Ohio before heading further west, graduating from the University of Southern California School of Theatre.
Like most youngactors, good roles were hard to come by, and Ashton found himself taking small parts in forgettable films such as “The Psychopath,” “So Evil, My Sister,” “Borderline” and “Honky Tonk Freeway.” He also made a slew of one-off appearances in popular TV series like “Kojak,” “Emergency!,” “Columbo,” “Barnaby Jones,” “Police Woman,” “M*A*S*H” and “Wonder Woman.”
In 1978, he landed his first recurring role in a hit series, appearing as Willie Joe Garr in six episodes of “Dallas.” On the big screen, he had a featured role in 1984’s “The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension,” which was financially unsuccessful at the time but has since become a cult classic. His next opportunity was “Beverly Hills Cop,” and the rest is history.
Over the past four decades, Ashton had starring roles in films like “Some Kind of Wonderful,” “Midnight Run,” “Curly Sue” and “Little Big League.”
Funeral arrangements have not yet been completed.
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
Click Here: Virgil van Dijk Jersey Sale