Taurean Blacque
American actor (1940–2022)
Taurean Blacque (born Herbert Middleton Jr.; May 10, 1940 – July 21, 2022) was an American television and stage actor, best known for his role as Detective Neal Washington on the series Hill Street Blues. He stated that he chose the name "Taurean" because his astrological sign was Taurus. He was at one time a national spokesman for adoptive services. Blacque was a Christian, and his faith influenced his desire to be involved with adoption.
Early life and career
Blacque was born Herbert Middleton Jr. on May 10, 1940, in Newark, New Jersey. Before appearing on television, Blacque trained and performed at the New Federal Theatre in New York City, a theater founded to provide opportunities to minorities and women. Early in his acting career, Blacque began making guest appearances in sitcoms such as What's Happening!!, Sanford and Son, The Bob Newhart Show, The Tony Randall Show, Good Times, and Taxi, and auditioned for permanent roles on others, including Venus Flytrap on WKRP in Cincinnati, eventually played by Tim Reid.
In 1981 he joined the cast of the police drama Hill Street Blues, staying with the show throughout its run, which ended in 1987. While appearing on that show, he was nominated in 1982 for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series, but lost to fellow Hill Street actor Michael Conrad, in a year in which all the nominees in the category came from the same series.
The public source identifies “Taurean Blacque” as american actor (1940–2022). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Taurean, Blacque and American.
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 28, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3516168. VIAF identifies the subject as 2005863. The Library of Congress control number is no00009210. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1940, 2022, 1981 and 1987.
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This entry incorporates text from “Taurean Blacque” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.