John Ashton, famous for playing Detective John Taggart in the “Beverly Hills Cop” movies, has sadly passed away at the age of 76. Now, his family has a special request.
Keep reading to learn more.
John Ashton died peacefully in Ft. Collins, Colorado, this past Thursday. His family and friends are heartbroken over his loss.
He passed away after bravely fighting cancer, according to his representative, Alan Somers. Somers shared that Ashton’s legacy is one of “love, dedication, and service,” and his family will continue to celebrate his life. He is survived by his wife, children, grandchildren, siblings, and more.
To honor the late actor’s life and legacy, the family is asking for donations to be made to Pathways Hospice Care in his memory.
Ashton was a well-known name in Hollywood for over 50 years, lighting up screens with more than 200 film, TV, and stage performances. While fans loved many of his roles, it was his portrayal of the straight-laced detective alongside Eddie Murphy’s wild cop character, Axel Foley, that made him a household name.
Ashton’s character, Detective Billy Rosewood, provided the perfect contrast to his co-star’s character, adding energy and humor to the films.
The film was a major success and established Ashton’s name in Hollywood. In July of this year, “Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F” premiered. In an interview, Ashton revealed that the film had taken 20 years to make before finally being released.
He mentioned there was a lot of uncertainty surrounding the film, to the point that he had given up on the idea and moved on to other projects. By the time he received a call about the film, he was already working on another project in Chicago.
After finishing his film, he went to L.A. to meet director Mark Molloy. Ashton knew that the film could only move forward if Murphy approved the script.
He said he knew he could fully commit to the project when Murphy greenlit the script and Jerry Bruckheimer joined as a producer.
In addition to his iconic role in “Beverly Hills Cop,” Ashton also had notable appearances in the show “M*A*S*H” and played Eric Stoltz’s father in the John Hughes comedy-drama “Some Kind of Wonderful.”
He started his career at a young age, with his first professional role in a production of “Othello” at the Hartford Stage Company. He later toured the world in various theater productions.
Ashton received great recognition for his acting, including an LA Method Fest award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in “Once Upon a River.”
He also appeared in several films, including “Death in Texas” (2020), “American Christmas” (2019), and “My Little Baby” (2019), among others.
Beyond his career, he was a devoted family man. He leaves behind his wife of 24 years, Robin Hoye, and his children, Michelle and Michael Thomas Ashton.
He is also survived by his stepchildren, Courtney Donovan, Lindsay Curcio, and Ashley Hoye, as well as his grandson Henry, his sisters Sharon Ann Ashton and Linda Jean Ashton, and his brother Edward Richard Ashton.
Former teen idol Leif Garrett’s life took a horrible downward spiral
To me, it feels like teenage heartthrob Leif Garrett does not get enough credit as an artist and performer. He deserved so much more!
Throughout his career, the former teen idol experienced extreme highs and lows, but the highs he sought through drug addiction, which he used as a crutch, resulted in him sinking his career…
Before you see him today, at 62, it might be good to hold your breath…
What a babe he was….. Leif Garrett started as a child actor, and in the 1970s, he set the hearts of young women to fluttering when he became a musician.
My mom told me that when she went to the grocery store with her parents, she could see Leif’s face on all of the teen magazine covers at the checkout lanes.
The American singer-actor, born in Hollywood, California, was 5 years old when he first appeared in the movie Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice in 1969, which became the sixth highest-grossing film of the year.
Following that role, the sleepy-eyed, flaxen-haired heartthrob featured in the film Walking Tall, along with its two sequels. In 1983 he joined a number of fellow teen heartthrobs, including Matt Dillon, C. Thomas Howell, Patrick Swayze and Tom Cruise, in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Outsiders.
Some might also recognize him from his performances in TV series, like Family, The Odd Couple (1974), Wonder Woman (1978) and CHiPs (1979).
In 1977, he released his first album Leif Garret, and fans went wild when he performed covers of popular songs like The Wanderer (Dion), Surfin’ USA (The Beach Boys) and Paul Anka’s Put Your Head on My Shoulder.
Garrett was on top of the world. The blond, shaggy-haired singer toured worldwide, and his fans (mostly young girls) went crazy as soon as they saw him.
”I was on a public appearance tour in Sydney, Australia, and they had to fly me in by helicopter and then I jumped into an armored car and drove into the theater by back door. I’ve tried using a lim there before, but the fans almost tipped it over. I guess it’s an adrenalin push for them. They just freak out. It’s very weird,” Garrett told New York Daily News in 1979.
But even though his music was close to topping the charts, he struggled with management that made him feel like a “fraud.” The crossover to adulthood was also a challenge for Garrett.
“I think I was a good performer from the get-go but I wish they had offered me singing lessons before ever making a record and doing the typical punching in a sentence here or there or words or whatever,” Garret said in an interview.
“There’s a particular track (I Was Looking for Someone to Love) that doesn’t even sound like me at all. I would even possibly say I wasn’t even on that track. And to me, that IS fraud. That’s like a Milli Vanilli situation, the difference being, of course, mine was blended many times with myself and somebody else.”
Garrett’s career started to go downhill in 1979 when, drunk and drugged, he crashed a car and sent it tumbling down a hillside in North Hollywood, leaving his then-close friend Ronald Winkler a paraplegic.
But that wasn’t enough for Garret, whose life continued its negative spiral.
In 1980, a time he describes in his book as “the apex of pinup fame,” Garret revelled in sex, drugs and rock and roll with the legendary frontman of Queen, Freddie Mercury, who was at the time recording the hugely successful album The Game, which featured the hits “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” and “Another One Bites the Dust.” Garrett said he became friends with the band, who showed him a real rock star life with girls and drugs.
In an interview with Fox for the release of his memoir, Idol Truth, Garrett said:“I don’t think I was a very mature 16-year-old. I became mature very quickly because I was always surrounded by adults who were drinking and doing coke. I was a child, but being treated as an adult… And all of this was coming out of my pocket.”
He continued: “You know, I probably have the greatest fan base that I could ever imagine for myself. They have stuck with me through thick and thin. And as you know, I’ve gotten myself in plenty of bad situations. There was a lot of bad decision-making. But at the same time, I didn’t have the parental guidance that I should have at that time.”
Garret’s tally of charges is extensive. He dropped out of rehab and had numerous run-ins with the police, including whilst trying to buy drugs from undercover cops and trying to hide heroin in his shoe.
Despite making very effort at clawing his way back to the top, Garrett ultimately returned to his old habits. Because of his laughable experiences with the law, Garrett was selected to provide commentary on the comedy show World’s Dumbest, which chronicles the “most amazingly stupid” criminals.
The show also used other celebrities known for personal misadventures, like Todd Bridges, Tonya Harding, Gary Busey and Danny Bonaduce.
Then Garrett landed a starring role on VH1’s Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew, a show he did not want to appear on. Garrett accused the show of having him relapse for drama, a claim emphatically denied by VH1.
In an interview the LA Times, Garrett said: “They asked to get some footage of me using, and I said, ‘I haven’t been using. They said, ‘We really have to get footage of you using.’ Anyway, I was easily talked into showing them.”
When a counselor with the production called him out, suggesting he was still using, Garrett walked off the show saying: “This is insanity and quite honestly I don’t appreciate it.”
Fortunately, Leif Garrett is sober today.
”I had a 90-day sentence in county jail. I was in court-ordered rehab before that, and then my mom visited and told me she had stage IV lung cancer. I said, ‘I’m leaving to take care of her—nobody lives with her.’ So dealing with that, I started using again. So it was like, ‘Cuff him, bring him in,’ and I did the 90 days, and that was it,” he says.
According to the former teen idol, he’s still very grateful for all his fans.
”I’ve kept every photo or letter that a young lady sent, telling me about being on their walls and kissing me good night before they went to bed,” Garrett told Closer. “It’s very surreal and a bit embarrassing, but how flattering! I can’t thank [my fans] enough, because I’m still able to do something I enjoy and get paid for it.”
We’re rallying behind Leif’s recovery and hope he can enjoy his life now!
We’d love you to share your thoughts on the former teen idol and his attempts at getting sober.
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