James B. Sikking, 90, who played Howard Hunter on Hill Street Blues, and Doogie Howser’s dad, died in L.A. on July 13. The son of Unity ministers, Sikking had a long climb—he started as an extra in 1955’s Five Guns West, and played small roles in countless TV shows and movies (some big ones, like Von Ryan’s Express, In Like Flint, Ordinary People, The Electric Horseman). It wasn’t till 1981 that he found a berth as the hard-charging SWAT leader on Hill Street Blues (Doogie Howser, M.D. ran from 1989-93). Sikking continued to work steadily—mostly on TV—till 2012. “It was a lot of hard work, but everybody loved it and that shows,” he said of Hill Street Blues. “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 is survived by his second wife, cookbook author Florine Helen Caplan.
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