He played an unhinged ex-boyfriend in ‘Daddy’s Gone a-Hunting’ and lots of other bad guys before landing on the cop show that aired on Canada’s CTV and CBS.
The Hollywood Reporter
By Mike Barnes
August 1, 2026
Scott Hylands, who starred as the cynical Det. Kevin “O.B.” O’Brien on the 1980s cop show Night Heat, the first Canadian original drama series to simultaneously air in the U.S., has died. He was 83.
Hylands died July 29, his son, Luke Hylands, announced. A longtime resident of Salt Spring Island in British Columbia, he was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia in October 2021.
The Canadian actor had portrayed his share of villains and heavies in guest spots on U.S. television for about two decades when he returned north to star as a good guy — finally! — in Night Heat, filmed in Toronto.
On the documentary-style series, conceived by onetime New York City detective Sonny Grosso — who with partner Eddie Egan helped bring down the “French Connection” drug-smuggling ring in the 1960s — Hylands portrayed the veteran cop O’Brien alongside Jeff Wincott as his younger, hot-headed partner, Frank Giambone.
Meanwhile, Allan Royal played Tom Kirkwood, who writes about the pair in his “Night Heat” newspaper column (he’s also the series’ narrator). Each episode represented one shift in the show’s unnamed city and was shot between the hours of 6 p.m. and 4 a.m.
The series ran for four seasons and 96 episodes, from January 1985 through January 1989, on CTV in Canada and in late night on CBS. (It often out-rated Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show in some markets.)
Scott Hylands Douglas was born on Feb. 27, 1943, in Lethbridge, Alberta. His mother, Ruth, was a nurse and a math teacher; his father, Walter, was killed in action in 1945 during World War II.
HYLANDS, Scott (Scott Hylands Douglas)
Born: 1943, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada
Died: 7/29/2026, Salt Spring Island in British Columbia, Canada
Scott Hylands’ westerns – actor:
Kung Fu (TV) – 1973 (Randy Bucknell, Saunders)
The Quest (TV) –1976 (Chuck Braxton)
Centennial (TV) – 1978-1979 (Laseter)
Death Hunt – 1981 (pilot)
Tales of the Klondike (TV) – 1981 (Carter Weatherbee)
The Yellow Rose (TV) – 1983 (Duncan Kilmore)
Lonesome Dove: The Series (TV) – 1995 (Ezrah Kimball)
