Tom Skerritt Dies at 93 After Defining Rugged Authority on Screen
Tom Skerritt, the Emmy-winning actor who brought authority to various roles, died Wednesday of natural causes at age 93, his family said. His family announced the death in a statement, noting he passed away on October 21, according to Fox News. Known for his trademark bristly mustache and crinkly eyes, Skerritt built a six-decade career moving easily between major feature films and television series.
The actor’s family remembered him for his curiosity, humor, and dedication to storytelling. “While the world knew Tom through his remarkable acting career, we knew him for his humour, curiosity, wisdom, generosity and the love he brought into our lives,” his family said in a statement published by CTV News.
From Korean War Indie to Major Studio Breakouts
Grew up in a Detroit family with a small-business owner father and a housewife mother, Skerritt served in the U.S. Air Force before studying filmmaking at the University of California, Los Angeles, inspired by “Citizen Kane.” After appearing in a Los Angeles theater production of “The Rainmaker,” he landed his first film role as a sergeant in the 1962 independent Korean War drama “War Hunt.” That $250,000 production also marked the screen debuts of Robert Redford, Sydney Pollack, and Francis Ford Coppola, according to CTV News. Redford and Skerritt competed for the same lead role in “War Hunt,” with Redford winning the part, though the two forged a lifelong friendship that later led to Skerritt playing the stern Reverend John Maclean in Redford’s 1992 directorial effort “A River Runs Through It,” noted CTV News and The Hollywood Reporter.
Skerritt worked with director Robert Altman in the 1970 Korean War satire “M*A*S*H” and the 1974 feature “Thieves Like Us,” before playing a shell-shocked, pot-dealing Vietnam veteran named Strawberry in the 1978 Cheech & Chong stoner comedy “Up in Smoke,” according to The Hollywood Reporter and NPR. He also appeared as a motorcycle cop in Hal Ashby’s “Harold and Maude,” noted NPR.
Skerritt Gains Fame in Alien
Skerritt achieved enduring sci-fi fame in 1979 as Captain Dallas of the doomed spacecraft Nostromo in Ridley Scott’s “Alien,” hunting the creature through dark ducts with a sputtering flamethrower. The Hollywood Reporter noted that Skerritt initially turned down the role due to concerns that special effects would consume the budget, but changed his mind after learning Scott was directing. Skerritt later told the Seattle Times, as cited by CTV News, that what appealed to him about the script was how the lead character disappeared and “the woman becomes the hero.”
In 1986, Skerritt played Commander Mike “Viper” Metcalf, the flight instructor who delivered the famous warning to Tom Cruise’s character in Tony Scott’s blockbuster “Top Gun”: “Gentlemen, you are the top one per cent of all Naval aviators. The elite. His extensive film credits included roles in “Steel Magnolias” and “Contact.”
Emmy-Winning Work on Television
Skerritt achieved his highest television acclaim as Sheriff Jimmy Brock in the quirky 1990s CBS drama “Picket Fences,” created by David E. Kelley. Set in the fictional, bizarre community of Rome, Wisconsin, the show ran from 1992 to 1996 and earned 14 Emmy Awards. Skerritt won the Emmy for outstanding lead actor in a drama series in 1993 and received another nomination the following year, starring opposite Kathy Baker as the town doctor, according to CTV News and The Hollywood Reporter.
His television career also featured a recurring role as Rebecca Howe’s ultra-suave ex-boss Evan Drake on “Cheers,” William Walker on ABC’s “Brothers and Sisters,” and Jimmy Ford on TNT’s “Leverage,” reported The Hollywood Reporter and CTV News. On stage, he narrated “Our Town” at Seattle’s Intiman Theatre in 2004 and made his Broadway debut in 2013 in an adaptation of John Grisham’s “A Time to Kill,” playing a disgraced and drunken lawyer, according to CTV News.
Veteran Advocacy and River Conservation in the Pacific Northwest
Away from Hollywood sets, Skerritt lived in the Pacific Northwest, where he championed independent film and environmental causes. NPR reported that he co-founded The Red Badge Project, a program that offers storytelling courses to veterans to help them share their experiences. He also helped create “Reflections of the River,” a documentary series exploring the health of America’s rivers, and supported river conservation through partnerships with American Rivers, the Wildlands Festival, and the Gallatin River Task Force.