Actor James Sikking, Known for Roles in ‘Hill Street Blues’ and ‘Doogie Howser, M.D.,’ Dies at 90

Hill Street Blues - Season 3

James Sikking, known for his roles as a tough police lieutenant on Hill Street Blues and the kind-hearted father of the titular character on Doogie Howser, M.D., has passed away at the age of 90.

Sikking’s publicist, Cynthia Snyder, announced his death on Sunday evening, attributing it to complications from dementia.

Born on March 5, 1934 in Los Angeles, Sikking was the youngest of five children. His early acting endeavors included an uncredited appearance in Roger Corman’s Five Guns West and a small role in an episode of Perry Mason. He also had guest appearances in numerous popular television shows during the 1970s, ranging from action-packed series like Mission: Impossible, M.A.S.H., The F.B.I., The Rockford Files, Hawaii Five-O, and Charlie’s Angels to family-friendly shows like Eight is Enough and Little House on the Prairie.

Hill Street Blues, a groundbreaking police procedural, premiered in 1981. Sikking portrayed Lt. Howard Hunter, a disciplined Vietnam War veteran who led the Emergency Action Team of the Metropolitan Police Department in an unnamed city.

While the show was known for its dramatic elements, Sikking’s character’s uptight nature and quirks often provided comic relief. He drew inspiration for his performance from a drill instructor he encountered during his time in basic training, an experience that interrupted his studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he graduated in 1959.

“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 Fresno Bee in 2014, during a series of interviews marking the release of the show’s box set.

Debuting during a period of Hollywood strikes, the NBC show received a lukewarm response and limited fanfare. However, the struggling network kept it on the air, recognizing its appeal to a specific audience: “Up popped this word ‘demographic,’” Sikking told the Star Tribune in 2014. “We were reaching people with a certain education and (who) made a certain kind of money. They called it the ‘Esquire audience.’”

The show ultimately ran for six seasons, ending in 1987. There was a brief period of uncertainty about Sikking’s future on the show when a December 1983 episode ended with his character contemplating suicide. This cliffhanger sparked comparisons to the “Who shot J.R.?” mystery from Dallas—though it was quickly resolved when TV supplements inadvertently published a teaser summary that revealed Hunter’s survival.

“I remember when Howard tried to kill himself. My brother called and asked, ‘You still got a job?’ I said, ‘Yeah,’ and he said, ‘Oh good,’ and then hung up,” Sikking told the Fresno Bee.

In 1984, Sikking received an Emmy nomination for outstanding supporting actor in a drama for his role on Hill Street Blues. The show’s gritty aesthetic and format, including multiple storylines and actors working in the background even without lines, were a new experience for Sikking and many viewers.

“It was a lot of hard work, but everybody loved it and that shows. 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,” he told Parade.com in 2014. “We always had three different stories running through (each episode), which means you had to listen and you had to pay attention because everything was important.”

Beyond Hill Street Blues, Sikking appeared as Captain Styles in 1984’s Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. He wasn’t initially enthusiastic about the role but was persuaded by the promise of a single day of filming.

“It was not my cup of tea. I was not into that kind of outer space business. 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,” Sikking told startrek.com in 2014. “So I had a silly prejudice against it, which is bizarre because I’ve probably and happily signed more this, that or the other thing of Star Trek than I have anything of all the other work I’ve done.”

Following the conclusion of Hill Street Blues, Sikking appeared in nearly 100 episodes of Dougie Howser, M.D., reuniting with Steven Bochco, who co-created both Hill Street Blues and the Neil Patrick Harris-led sitcom.

NEIL PATRICK HARRIS;JAMES SIKKING

He was married to Florine Caplan, with whom he had two children and four grandchildren.

By the time the Hill Street Blues box set was released, Sikking had largely retired from acting. He continued to take on occasional roles after the turn of the millennium, including guest appearances on Curb Your Enthusiasm and roles in the romantic comedies Fever Pitch and Made of Honor. His final acting credits were a guest appearance on a 2012 episode of The Closer and a role in the film Just an American that same year.

Sikking remained active in charitable endeavors. He was a regular participant in celebrity golf tournaments and even attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony for a health center in an Iowa town of only 7,200 people. “Actually, I came to get something from you—air I can’t see,” Sikking told the crowd of 100 people. “Where we’re from, if it isn’t brown, we don’t know how to breathe it,” the Associated Press reported in 1982.

“I probably would do something if it got me going. Acting is a license to do self-investigation. It’s a great ego trip to be an actor,” he told startrek.com in 2014. “I must say that, in the past few years in which I haven’t worked, the obscurity has been quite attractive.”

“The condiment of my life is good fortune,” he concluded.