Pictured: Tom Skerritt in 2014. Photo via Wikimedia Commons.
Tom Skerritt, the steady, everyman actor whose six-decade career ran from M*A*S*H and Alien to Top Gun and an Emmy-winning turn on Picket Fences, has died at 93. He died of natural causes on Wednesday, his family said in a statement confirmed by his publicist. His family said they were heartbroken and remembered him for his humor, curiosity, wisdom, generosity and love.
Watch our memorial tribute
StardustCalendar has put together a memorial video celebrating Tom Skerritt’s life and career. Watch it on our YouTube channel, or play it below. You can also read our full memorial tribute to Tom Skerritt.
From Detroit to Hollywood
Born August 25, 1933, in Detroit, Skerritt grew up in a middle-class family and served four years in the Air Force before studying at Wayne State University and then UCLA, where he set out to learn filmmaking after being inspired by Citizen Kane. His first film role came in the 1962 Korean War drama War Hunt, which also marked the screen debuts of Robert Redford, Sydney Pollack and Francis Ford Coppola.
A career of memorable roles
- M*A*S*H (1970), Harold and Maude and Thieves Like Us, early supporting roles
- The Turning Point (1977), which won him the National Board of Review award for best supporting actor
- Alien (1979), as Dallas, the doomed captain of the Nostromo
- The Dead Zone (1983)
- Top Gun (1986), as Viper, Tom Cruise’s flight instructor
- Steel Magnolias (1989), as Sally Field’s husband
- A River Runs Through It (1992), as the stern Rev. Maclean, directed by his longtime friend Robert Redford
- Contact (1997)
On television, he played Evan Drake on Cheers and starred as Sheriff Jimmy Brock on Picket Fences, which won him the 1993 Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. He later appeared on Brothers & Sisters and Leverage, and he made his Broadway debut in 2013 in A Time to Kill.
Skerritt is survived by his wife, Julie Tokashiki, and five children.