‘Hill Street Blues’ star turned 90

James B. Sikking, known for his roles as Lt. Howard Hunter in “Hill Street Blues” and the father of the titular character in “Doogie Howser, MD,” has died. He was 90.

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

“In a remarkable career, Sikking’s wonderfully electrifying face gave us drama, comedy, tragedy and hilarious farce,” Snyder said with Variety. “His career spanned more than six decades in television, film and on stage.”

Sikking was widely recognized for his portrayal of Howard Hunter in the police series “Hill Street Blues,” which aired on NBC from 1981 to 1987. He received an Emmy nomination in 1984 for his performance as the clean-cut, pipe-smoking lieutenant.

After “Hill Street Blues” Sikking played Dr. David Howser, father of Doogie Howser (Neil Patrick Harris), for all four seasons of the ABC medical sitcom from 1989 to 1993.

He once again played a police officer for Steven Bochco, co-creator of “Hill Street Blues” and “Doogie Howser, MD” in the short-lived CBS series “Brooklyn South” (1997-98).

Early in his career, Sikking guest-starred on television series such as ‘Perry Mason’, ‘General Hospital’, ‘The Outer Limits’, ‘The Fugitive’, ‘Rawhide’, ‘Bonanza’, ‘Ironside’, ‘Starsky & Hutch’ and “The Rockford Files,” before becoming a series regular on “Hill Street Blues.” In 2004, he appeared in two episodes of HBO’s ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’.

On the film side, he was known for his role as Captain Styles in 1984’s ‘Star Trek III: The Search for Spock’, directed by and starring Leonard Nimoy, and the director of the FBI in the legal thriller ‘The Pelican Brief ‘ from 1993 by Alan J. Pakula. .” Other film credits include ‘Point Blank’, ‘Made of Honor’, ‘Fever Pitch’, ‘Charro!’, ‘Final Approach’, ‘Ordinary People’, ‘Terminal Man’ and ‘Von Ryan’s Express’; he worked on four films directed by Peter Hyams: ‘Capricorn One’, ‘Outland’, ‘The Star Chamber’ and ‘Narrow Margin’.

The youngest of five, James Barrie Sikking (named after the author of “Peter Pan”) was born in Los Angeles on March 5, 1934, to Andy and Sue Sikking. He graduated in 1959 with a degree in theater arts from UCLA, where he met Florine Caplan, his wife of more than 60 years.

Sikking is survived by a wife, son Andrew (Paula), daughter Dr. Emily Sikking (Mallory “Chip” Milam) and four surviving grandchildren, Lola and Gemma Sikking and Hugh and Madeline “Maddie” Milam.