{"id":38514,"date":"2026-08-11T12:18:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T07:18:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=38514"},"modified":"2026-08-11T12:18:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T07:18:11","slug":"hill-street-blues-major-dad-actor-was-94","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=38514","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Hill Street Blues&#8217; &#038; &#8216;Major Dad&#8217; Actor Was 94"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/tag\/jon-cypher\/\" id=\"auto-tag_jon-cypher\" data-tag=\"jon-cypher\">Jon Cypher<\/a>, who played Chief Daniels in scores of <em><a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/tag\/hill-street-blues\/\" id=\"auto-tag_hill-street-blues\" data-tag=\"hill-street-blues\">Hill Street Blues<\/a><\/em> episodes, was He-Man\u2019s chief ally in 1987\u2019s <em><a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/tag\/masters-of-the-universe\/\" id=\"auto-tag_masters-of-the-universe\" data-tag=\"masters-of-the-universe\">Masters of the Universe<\/a><\/em>, starred on <em>Major Dad<\/em> and appeared in dozens of other TV series and films over nearly a half-century, died August 3 at his home in Central Point, Oregon. He was 94.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">His family told local news outlet<em> Ashland News<\/em> that he died with his wife by his side but did not reveal a cause of death.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cypher probably is best known for his role as the politics-savvy and sometimes duplicitous Police Chief Fletcher Daniels in more than 70 episodes of NBC\u2019s 1980s cop drama <em>Hill Street Blues <\/em>from 1981-87. Although the series created by Steven Bochco-Michael Kozoll never was a big ratings hit \u2014 ranking only 27th among primetime series in its first season and never breaking the Top 20 in a three-network universe \u2014 its influence was undeniable as critics swooned. The series\u00a0amassed 26 Emmys, dozens more nominations and was the first show to win four consecutive Emmys for Outstanding Drama Series, from 1981-84. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During <em>Hill Street<\/em>\u2018s run, Cypher was cast as He-Man key ally Duncan, aka Man-at-Arms, in the 1987 cult pic <em>Masters of the Universe.<\/em> Idris Elba plays the character in this year\u2019s reboot starring Nicholas Galitzine. Another big role came around in 1990 when Cypher joined the CBS sitcom<em> Major Dad <\/em>as Brig. Gen. Marcus Craig for the show\u2019s final three seasons into 1993.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But those career-defining parts came a quarter-century or more into his acting career.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Born on January 13, 1932, in New York City, Cypher\u2019s first credit was playing Prince Christopher in CBS\u2019 1957 landmark live telecast of Rodgers and Hammerstein\u2019s musical <em>Cinderella<\/em>, which starred Julie Andrews and drew more than 100 million U.S. viewers. He then played the first nine Broadway roles, starting with <em>The Disenchanted <\/em>and including such 1960s productions as <em>The Night of the Iguana, Man of La Mancha, The Great White Hope<\/em> and <em>1776<\/em>. His final Broadway credit was playing toy story owner Mr. MacMillan in the 1996 production of <em>Big<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the early 1960s, he was cast in the single-season CBS daytime soap <em>Our Five Daughters <\/em>\u2014 which debuted a year after the sitcom <em>My Three Sons \u2014 <\/em>beginning a string of roles in serials for Cypher. He went on to appear on the likes of <em>General Hospital, As the World Turns<\/em> and <em>Santa Barbara<\/em>, along with primetime soaps <em>Dynasty, Dallas and Knots Landing.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Along the way, he guested on dozens of memorable TV hits from <em>Mission: Impossible, Bonanza<\/em> and <em>The F.B.I. <\/em>to <em>The Rockford Files, The Love Boat <\/em>and <em>Knight Ryder<\/em> to <em>Hunter, The Commish, JAG, Law &amp; Order, Walker, Texas Ranger <\/em>and <em>Murder, She Wrote.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cypher\u2019s first big-screen credit was a starring role in 1971\u2019s <em>Valdez Is Coming, <\/em>playing a powerful rancher who falsely accuses a man of murder and forces the town sheriff (Burt Lancaster) to kill the guy. When the lawman asks for compensation for the fallen man\u2019s widow, Cypher\u2019s Frank Tanner summons a force to battle him. Future <em>Law &amp; Order <\/em>Emmy winner and DGA Lifetime Achievement Award winner Edwin Sherin directed the film.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cypher would appear in a number of other features during his long career, including <em>Strictly Business <\/em>and <em>Off the Mark, <\/em>but TV was his main medium. He also appeared in a number of telefilms such as <em>Elvis &amp; Me, Malice in Wonderland<\/em>, <em>Night Games <\/em>and Juan Peron in <em>Evita Peron<\/em>. His final credit was playing a director in a pair of <em>The Lot <\/em>episodes in 2001.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He also was a singer \u2014 his <em>Ashland News <\/em>obit noted that he sang opera in four languages \u2014 and was the author of a book of limericks titled <em>If You\u2019re Not Depressed, You Oughta Be in Therapy.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cypher is survived by his wife of 40 years, Carol Rosin. Information of other survivors was not available. He was to be buried at the Forest Conservation Burial Ground in Ashland, Oregon.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jon Cypher, who played Chief Daniels in scores of Hill Street Blues episodes, was He-Man\u2019s chief ally in 1987\u2019s Masters of the Universe, starred on Major Dad and appeared in dozens of other TV series and films over nearly a half-century, died August 3 at his home in Central Point, Oregon. He was 94. His&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38515,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Jon-Cypher.jpg?w=1000","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=38514"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38514\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/38515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=38514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=38514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=38514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}