{"id":809556,"date":"2026-08-11T01:46:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T01:46:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/809556\/"},"modified":"2026-08-11T01:46:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T01:46:13","slug":"jon-cypher-dead-hill-street-blues-major-dad-actor-was-94","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/809556\/","title":{"rendered":"Jon Cypher Dead: \u2018Hill Street Blues,\u2019 \u2018Major Dad\u2019 Actor Was 94"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tJon Cypher, who portrayed Prince Charming opposite Julie Andrews<\/a> in the first live TV production of Cinderella and Chief of Police Fletcher Daniels on all seven seasons of Hill Street Blues, has died. He was 94.<\/p>\n

\n\tCypher died Aug. 3 at his home in Central Point, Oregon, his family announced<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn films, the Brooklyn College graduate played an evil rancher alongside Burt Lancaster<\/a> and Susan Clark in Edwin Sheron\u2019s Valdez Is Coming (1971), and he was the heroic Man-at-Arms in the cult favorite Masters of the Universe (1987), starring Dolph Lundgren.<\/p>\n

\n\tCypher demonstrated his flair for broad comedy when he portrayed Brigadier Gen. Marcus Craig on 69 episodes over the last three seasons (1990-93) of the CBS sitcom Major Dad, starring Gerald McRaney.<\/p>\n

\n\tHe also recurred as the record producer Jeff Munson on CBS\u2019 Knots Landing in 1982-83 \u2014 his character gives a listen to Lisa Hartman\u2019s singer Ciji Dunne \u2014 and the less-than honorable lawyer Dirk Maurier on ABC\u2019s Dynasty from 1983-87.<\/p>\n

\n\tCypher was a virtual unknown when he was cast as the prince alongside rising British star Andrews in Rodgers & Hammerstein\u2019s original musical adaptation of Cinderella. The lavish production, which aired live and in color on CBS in March 1957, attracted more than 107 million viewers, with more than 60 percent of U.S. households tuning in.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tJon Cypher with Julie Andrews in \u2018Cinderella,\u2019 broadcast live on CBS in 1957.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n

\n\tCypher, however, is probably best known for his run as the calculating, bureaucratic Daniels on Hill Street Blues. On 71 episodes of the acclaimed NBC hit from 1981-87, Daniels frequently clashed with Daniel J. Travanti\u2019s Capt. Frank Furillo, prioritizing politics and budgets over doing the right thing.<\/p>\n

\n\tThough he had a solid career, Cypher noted in a 2014 interview that acting is \u201cnot an easy profession. You\u2019re always being judged, by critics, by the audience,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019d say to any young actor who is thinking about entering the fray, \u2018Gird your loins very sturdily and have a sharp sword,\u2019 because you have to pick yourself up many, many, many times.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBorn in New York on Jan. 13, 1932, Cypher attended Erasmus Hall High School on Flatbush Avenue and then Brooklyn College, graduating in 1953. Three years later, he acted in summer stock productions for the Elitch Theatre in Denver.<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter his big break in Cinderella, Cypher made his Broadway debut in 1958 in Harvey Breit\u2019s The Disenchanted, then returned to the Great White Way in 1961 to understudy for and then replace Patrick O\u2019Neal as the Rev. T. Lawrence Shannon in the original production of Tennessee Williams\u2019 The Night of the Iguana.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn other prominent original productions on Broadway, he played Don Quixote in Man of La Mancha, several characters in The Great White Hope and Thomas Jefferson in 1776. (Asked how he researched the role for that last one, he replied, \u201cI looked at a nickel!\u201d)<\/p>\n

\n\tHe sang opera in four languages, his family said, and \u201cwas known to burst out in song, bringing joy to every event.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tJon Cypher (left) with Gerald McRaney on \u2018Major Dad.\u2019<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u00a9Universal\/Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n

\n\tOn Knots Landing, his producer character also offered Kenny and Ginger Ward (James Houghton<\/a> and Kim Lankford) jobs in Nashville so they could escape the Seaview Circle cul-de-sac.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tCypher also worked on the daytime soaps As the World Turns, General Hospital and Santa Barbara; voiced the villain Spellbinder for Batman Beyond; and showed up in primetime on Nanny and the Professor, The Doris Day Show, Mannix, Bonanza, McMillan & Wife, The F.B.I., Bronk, The Rockford Files, Police Woman, Hunter, JAG and Law & Order, among many other shows.<\/p>\n

\n\tHe wrote a book of limericks, If You\u2019re Not Depressed You Oughta Be in Therapy, published in 2019, and, according to his family was \u201coutspoken in support for recognition of truth regarding non-threatening extra-terrestrials and their crafts.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tCypher is to be buried Tuesday at the Forest Conservation Burial Ground in Ashland, Oregon, \u201cunder tall trees in a meadow, wrapped in a completely natural, biodegradable shroud, obliging his wish to return to nature.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jon Cypher, who portrayed Prince Charming opposite Julie Andrews in the first live TV production of Cinderella and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":809557,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[343614,236,88,170715,10756],"class_list":["post-809556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-burt-lancaster","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-julie-andrews","tag-obituaries"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=809556"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809556\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/809557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=809556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=809556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=809556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}