Veteran actor Scott Hylands, best known for playing the hard-edged detective Kevin “O.B.” O’Brien on the hit 1980s crime drama Night Heat, has died at age 83.
Hylands passed away on July 29, his son Luke Hylands announced. The actor, who lived for years on Salt Spring Island in British Columbia, had been diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia in October 2021.
For decades, Hylands was one of television’s most familiar tough guys, regularly appearing as killers, criminals and dangerous villains. But Night Heat finally gave him the chance to play the good guy — even if his cynical veteran detective was far from warm and fuzzy.
The gritty police series made television history as the first original Canadian drama to air simultaneously in Canada and the United States. It debuted on CTV in Canada and aired during CBS’ late-night lineup in America.
Night Heat followed O’Brien and his younger, hot-tempered partner Frank Giambone, played by Jeff Wincott, as they worked the overnight shift in an unnamed city.
Allan Royal played newspaper columnist Tom Kirkwood, who narrated the episodes and chronicled the detectives’ cases in his fictional “Night Heat” column.
The documentary-style series was created by former New York City detective Sonny Grosso, who helped break up the infamous French Connection drug-smuggling operation during the 1960s.
To give the show its dark and realistic atmosphere, episodes were filmed in Toronto between 6 p.m. and 4 a.m. Each installment covered a single police shift.
Night Heat ran for four seasons and 96 episodes from January 1985 until January 1989. The show became a surprising late-night success, reportedly beating Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show in the ratings in some markets.
Hylands was born Scott Hylands Douglas on Feb. 27, 1943, in Lethbridge, Alberta.
His mother, Ruth, worked as both a nurse and a mathematics teacher. His father, Walter, was killed in action during World War II in 1945, when Hylands was still a young child.
He attended Shawnigan Lake Boys School on Vancouver Island before graduating from the University of British Columbia in 1964.
Determined to become an actor, Hylands moved to New York and quickly landed the lead role in a 1965 off-Broadway production of Billy Liar.
He later spent several years performing in San Francisco with the prestigious American Conservatory Theater.
Hylands made a memorable movie debut in the 1969 thriller Daddy’s Gone a-Hunting, playing a deranged former boyfriend who terrorizes a woman after discovering she had ended her pregnancy.
The chilling role established him as a convincing screen villain and led to years of appearances as criminals, heavies and unstable characters.
During the 1970s, he appeared in films including Slipstream, Earthquake and The Boys in Company C.
He also became a familiar face on popular television shows such as The Streets of San Francisco, Kung Fu, Harry O, Police Woman, Cannon, Medical Center, Baretta, Wonder Woman and Police Story.
Hylands also appeared in the sweeping 1978-79 television miniseries Centennial.
After Night Heat ended, he continued working steadily for decades, landing roles on NYPD Blue, The X-Files, Due South, Stargate SG-1, The Outer Limits, V, Once Upon a Time and Wynonna Earp.
One of his most memorable later performances came in 2017, when he played Ennis Stussy, the stepfather of Carrie Coon’s Department of Homeland Security agent Gloria Burgle, during the third season of FX’s Fargo.
Hylands is survived by his wife of 36 years, Veronica, his son, Luke, and his daughter, Rebecca.
His Night Heat co-star Jeff Wincott previously credited Hylands with helping shape his own acting career.
“I was lucky to have worked with him on my first big acting job,” Wincott told the Toronto Sun in 2021.
“He taught me a lot. He was always prepared, professional, and he cared deeply about doing good work, a lesson and example I carried with me throughout my career.”