‘Doogie Howser’ and ‘Hill Street Blues’ Star Was 90 ArticlePure

James B. Sikking has died at the age of 90, PEOPLE confirms.

According to his publicist, Cynthia Synder, the Hill Street Blues actor died “peacefully at his Los Angeles home surrounded by family.” The cause of death was dementia.

Known for his expressive face, Sikking’s career spanned six decades. He was best recognized for playing Lt. Howard Hunter, the leader of the precinct’s Emergency Action Team, on Hill Street Blues from 1981 to 1987. The Emmy nominee also had a lead role as Dr. David Howser, the father to boy genius Doogie (played by Neil Patrick Harris) on Doogie Howser, M.D.

Both shows were created by Steve Bochco, who died in 2018.

James Barrie Sikking was born in Los Angeles in 1934. He attended El Segundo High School and earned a Bachelor’s degree in Theatre Arts from UCLA, where he first fell in love with acting.

During college, he spent time in the Army — and his drill instructor during basic training ultimately inspired his approach to his Hill Street Blues character.

“The drill instructor looked like he had steel for hair, and his uniform had so much starch in it, you knew it would sit in the corner when he took it off in the barracks,” he told The Seattle Times in 2014. “So when I started to play Howard, I picked out the way he should be dressed. It had to be a very military look. He had to have those jump boots.”

He added, “When people asked me where I got the idea for his look, I told them it was the same look I had in the Army.”

Sikking performed in stage productions at Michigan’s Barn Theatre School before jumping to movies with 1955’s Five Guns West and 1956’s The Revolt of Mamie Stover. He made dozens of TV appearances, on shows including Perry Mason, The Fugitive, Gomer Pyle. U.S.M.C., Hogan’s Heroes, Mission: Impossible, Columbo, Little House on the Prairie and Hawaii Five-O. From 1973 to 1976, he appeared on General Hospital as Dr. James Hobart.

In 1981, he joined the cast of Hill Street Blues, an ensemble show, about a police station in a fictional city. ”The great thing about Hill Street Blues was that no one character was more important than any other,” Sikking told The New York Times in 1988.

The series had poor ratings in his first season, but received a whopping 21 Emmy nominations (and would win eight of those awards). NBC renewed it, making it, at the time, the lowest-rated drama that was ever renewed for another season. 

The series was not only a critical darling, but the show became highly influential for the decades of police dramas that would follow.

“It was a lot of hard work, but everybody loved it and that shows,” Sikking told Parade in 2014. “When you have the people who are involved in the creation, manufacture — whatever you want to call it — who are really into it and enjoy doing it, you’re going to get a good product.”

PEOPLE described Sikking’s character in 1987 as “a thug’s worst enemy and a dog’s best friend.” He received one Emmy nomination for the role.

“I’d done acres of crap,” he told the Los Angeles Times in 2006. “This was special.” There were no filler episodes; every hour was just as meaningful as the ones that came before. “We did 148 hours, and there’s no bagel dough in it,” he explained. 

Sikking also appeared in the 1984 film Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. He was cast when producer Harve Bennett asked him to step into the role of Captain Styles.

“I was not into that kind of outer-space business,” he admitted to StarTrek.com in 2014. “I had an arrogant point of view in those days. I wanted to do real theater. I wanted to do serious shows, not something about somebody’s imagination of what outer space was going to be like.” He called that prejudice “silly” and said that he was recognized more by fans for his Star Trek role than for “all the other work I’ve done.”

When Hill Street Blues ended in 1987, after seven seasons, he continued to work. Most notably, he joined Doogie Howser, M.D. in 1989, alongside Neil Patrick Harris as the titular prodigy. The series ran until 1993. Other roles for the actor included The Pelican Brief, Fever Pitch, Made of Honor and The Closer. 

Sikking married wife Florine in 1962, and they shared three children. 

He had mostly retired by the end of the 2000s. “I must say that, in the past few years in which I haven’t worked, the obscurity has been quite attractive,” he admitted to StarTrek.com. “The wonderful thing about obscurity is it gives you a chance to be who you are and not some character. It also keeps you from being so self-conscious. . . . I still do my charity events, but I’m happy to be with my family.” 

Hill Street Blues was ultimately the part of his long acting career of which he was most proud. He told The Seattle Times, “I’ve been an actor for 50 years, and when I look back at the show, I think it was the best show I was ever on.”

Sikking is survived by his wife of 61 years, Florine, his son Andrew, daughter Dr. Emily Sikking (Mallory ‘Chip’ Milam), and four grandchildren.