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

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James Sikking, star of 'Hill Street Blues' and 'Doogie Howser, MD,' dies at 90
ENT

ENT

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

2024-07-15 09:52 Last Updated At:10:01

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.

The acclaimed show was a drama, but Sikking's character's uptight nature and quirks were often used to comic effect. Sikking based his performance on a drill instructor he'd had at basic training when military service cut through his time at the University of California, Los Angeles, from which 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, when he did a series of interviews with various publications marking the box set's release.

When it debuted on the heels of a Hollywood dual strike, the NBC show was met with low ratings and little fanfare. But the struggling network kept it on the air: “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 until 1987, although for a brief moment it wasn't clear Sikking would make it that far. A December 1983 episode ended with his character contemplating dying by suicide. The cliffhanger drew comparisons to the “Who shot J.R.?” mystery from “Dallas” not long before — although it was quickly resolved when TV supplements accidentally ran a teaser summary that made it clear Hunter had been saved.

“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.

Sikking would earn an Emmy nomination for outstanding supporting actor in a drama in 1984. The look and format of “Hill Street Blues” were something new to Sikking — and many in the audience, from the grimy look of the set to the multiple storylines that often kept actors working in the background, even when they didn't have lines in the scene.

“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.”

Aside from “Hill Street Blues,” Sikking played Captain Styles in 1984's “Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.” He wasn't enthusiastic about the role, but had been lured by the idea that it would take just a day on set.

“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 explained to 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.”

After the end of “Hill Street Blues,” he acted 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-starring sitcom.

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

Sikking had all but retired by the time the box set of “Hill Street Blues” came out. He had fewer but memorable roles after the turn of the millennium, guest-starring on “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and acting in the rom-com films “Fever Pitch” and “Made of Honor.” His last roles were as a guest star on a 2012 episode of “The Closer” and in a movie that same year, “Just an American.”

Sikking continued to do charity events. He was a longtime participant in celebrity golf tournaments and even once made it to the ribbon-cutting for a health center in an Iowa town of just 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 finished.

FILE - Actor James Sikking poses for a photograph at the Los Angeles gala celebrating the 20th anniversary of the National Organization for Women, Dec. 1, 1986. 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 of complications from dementia, his publicist Cynthia Snyder said in a statement Sunday, July 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Avery, File)

FILE - Actor James Sikking poses for a photograph at the Los Angeles gala celebrating the 20th anniversary of the National Organization for Women, Dec. 1, 1986. 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 of complications from dementia, his publicist Cynthia Snyder said in a statement Sunday, July 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Avery, File)

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Everything you need to know about the 2025 Sundance Film Festival

2025-01-23 00:08 Last Updated At:00:11

PARK CITY, Utah (AP) — As many in the entertainment industry navigate the devastating effects of the California wildfires, some will soon be decamping to cleaner air in the mountains. The annual Sundance Film Festival begins Thursday in Park City, Utah.

The 41st edition of Robert Redford’s brainchild will, as always, be a year of discovery and discussion. There are timely films:

— “Free Leonard Peltier,” which will premiere just days after former President Joe Biden commuted the sentence of the Indigenous activist nearly half a century after he was imprisoned for the 1975 killings of two FBI agents.

— Oscar-winner Mstyslav Chernov’s“2000 Meters to Andriivka,” a joint production between The Associated Press and Frontline about an attempt to liberate an occupied territory in Ukraine

— Several films about trans rights including “Heightened Scrutiny,” about civil rights lawyer Chase Strangio. It's a topic even more pressing after President Donald Trump signed executive orders Monday rolling back protections for transgender people.

There are even some controversies brewing: “The Stringer,” from documentary filmmaker Bao Nguyen, calls into question who took the Pulitzer Prize-winning “Napalm Girl” photograph. Retired AP photographer Nick Ut and the AP, which conducted a six-month investigation into the allegation, are contesting it vigorously and lawyers have asked for it to be pulled from the program.

“The film is an investigation,” said Eugene Hernandez, the director of the festival, who is moving forward with plans to screen it. “I think it will be a really important conversation that will come out over the next few days after the film is seen by more people.”

Don’t worry, it’s not all heavy. There’s drama of course, even a film about starting over after a fire (“Rebuilding,” with Josh O’Connor), horror, satire, literary adaptations, comedy, documentaries about famous faces, and some that simply defy categorization.

“There’s some really funny stuff in the program,” Hernandez said. One of those Hernandez cited is “Bubble & Squeak,” about a married couple accused of smuggling cabbages into a nation where they’re banned.

For first time filmmakers, Sundance can be their chance to break through in a big way. That happened last year for “Dìdi” filmmaker Sean Wang. Some films that debuted last January are still in the awards conversation, like “A Real Pain” and “A Different Man.” For actors, the festival is both a casual respite to awards season glitz (snow boots are more likely on red carpets than high heels) and can be a chance to show audiences a new dimension of their talent.

“It’s a strong year of renewal for our artist community,” Hernandez said. “And we have a lot of really great voices and stories that we get to unveil in the coming days.”

Here’s everything you need to know:

Sundance runs from Jan. 23 through Feb. 2. There are about 90 features premiering across the 11 days, with screenings starting early in the morning through midnight. Award-winners will be announced on Jan. 31.

Stars with films premiering include Jennifer Lopez, Benedict Cumberbatch, Diego Luna, Conan O’Brien, Alison Brie, Dave Franco, Ayo Edebiri, Olivia Colman, André Holland, Steven Yeun, Mark Ruffalo, Bowen Yang, Carey Mulligan, Joel Edgerton, Lily Gladstone, Dev Patel, Emily Watson, John Lithgow, Marlee Matlin, John Malkovich, Rose Byrne, Chloë Sevigny, Josh O’Connor, Ben Whishaw, Dylan O’Brien, Lili Reinhart and Willem Dafoe.

One of the greatest things about Sundance is that it’s often the under-the-radar movies that become the breakouts.

But some of the higher-profile premieres going into the festival include: Bill Condon’s “Kiss of the Spider-Woman,” starring Lopez; Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s documentary “SLY LIVES! (aka The Burden of Black Genius)”; “Opus,” a horror about the cult of celebrity with Edebiri and John Malkovich; Andrew Ahn’s “The Wedding Banquet,” with Bowen Yang and Kelly Marie Tran; the war satire “Atropia,” with Alia Shawkat; “Pee-wee as Himself,” about the late Paul Reubens; “Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore”; and Andrew Jarecki and Charlotte Kaufman’s doc “The Alabama Solution,” about a cover-up in one of America’s most notorious prison systems.

Festival organizers have been in dialogue with filmmakers, staff, audiences and donors about the effects of the fires, supporting and accommodating where possible including pushing back deadlines to allow filmmakers more time to finish. The festival will also have a QR code displayed before screenings for information on sharing resources or contributing to relief efforts.

“As hard as the last week has been, this will be a moment to come together,” Hernandez said. “The community’s really responding to support those who need it most right now. I think that’s going to be a profound aspect of this year’s festival.”

For the most part, yes. Starting in 2027 the festival will no longer be primarily based in Park City. It may stay in Utah but would operate mainly out of Salt Lake City. Other finalists are Boulder, Colorado, and Cincinnati, Ohio. The Sundance Institute is expected to announce its final decision in the first quarter of 2025.

“Park City as the home of Sundance is such a special place,” Hernandez said. “I look at it optimistically because we have two more exciting years in this current configuration. I think we’re going to make the most of those two years and make them as memorable and meaningful as we can.”

Access to the movies premiering at Sundance doesn’t necessary require an expensive trip to Park City anymore. The festival has fully embraced an online component for many of their films.

What started as a necessary COVID-19 adjustment has become a vital part of the program. From Jan. 30 through Feb. 2, audiences can stream much of the program online. Prices start at $35 for a single film ticket and go up to $800 for unlimited access.

Otherwise, films that secure distribution can take anywhere from a few weeks to over a year to hit theaters or streaming services. Steven Soderbergh's “Presence,” which premiered last January, is just hitting theaters this week.

For more coverage of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival visit: https://apnews.com/hub/sundance-film-festival

The marquee of the Egyptian Theatre is shown Thursday, Jan. 28, 2021, in Park City, Utah. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

The marquee of the Egyptian Theatre is shown Thursday, Jan. 28, 2021, in Park City, Utah. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

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