James Sikking, star of ‘Hill Street Blues’ and ‘Doogie Howser, MD,’ dies at 90

BY MALLIKA SEN AND LINDSEY BAHR
Updated 8:52 PM CDT, July 14, 2024

James Sikking, who starred as a hardened police lieutenant on “Hill Street Blues” and as the titular character’s kindhearted dad on “Doogie Howser, M.D.,” has died at 90.

Sikking died of complications from dementia, his publicist Cynthia Snyder said in a statement Sunday evening.

Born the youngest of five children on March 5, 1934 in Los Angeles, his early acting ventures included an uncredited part in Roger Corman’s “Five Guns West” and a bit role in an episode of “Perry Mason.” He also secured guest spots in a litany of popular 1970s television series, from the action-packed “Mission: Impossible,” “M.A.S.H.” “The F.B.I.,” “The Rockford Files,” “Hawaii Five-O” and “Charlie’s Angels” to “Eight is Enough” and “Little House on the Prairie.”

“Hill Street Blues” would debut in 1981, a fresh take on the traditional police procedural. Sikking played Lt. Howard Hunter, a clean-cut Vietnam War veteran who headed the Emergency Action Team of the Metropolitan Police Department in a never-named city...

Complete article:

https://apnews.com/article/jam...58f61a0fc314ae5cb879

Remember enjoying his character in HSB and other movies.

Rest in Peace.

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I heard that news and it’s sad. Always thought he played some great characters.

He also played a role in Star Trek III as the arrogant/douchey Captain Lawrence H. Styles, commander of the USS Excelsior (NCC-2000). The swagger stick was a perfect touch!

Captain Styles lost his smug, arrogant face after Scotty made off with a few trans-warp computer parts.

"The more they overthink the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain."

He was a good actor.

Good actor.

Like Miami Vice, Hill Street Blues had an enormous impact on television.