American actor Tom Skerritt, star of “Alien” and “Top Gun”, dies at 93
US actor Tom Skerritt, known for “M*A*S*H”, “Alien”, “Top Gun” and the TV series “Picket Fences”, has died aged 93. His family said he died of natural causes on 21 October.
American film and television actor Tom Skerritt has died at the age of 93. According to his family, he died on Wednesday, 21 October, of natural causes. Skerritt was known for roles in “MAS*H”, “Alien” and “Top Gun”, as well as the TV series “Picket Fences”, which earned him an Emmy Award.
Family statement
Relatives bade farewell to a “beloved husband, father and grandfather”. They said the world knew him as an actor, while they knew him as a man with a great sense of humour, curiosity, wisdom and generosity. The family noted that creative expression, storytelling, helping others, caring for war veterans and protecting nature mattered greatly to him. It asked for privacy during the period of mourning and said details of a memorial would be announced later.
Career
Skerritt was born in 1933 in Detroit, Michigan. He served four years in the US Air Force and studied at the University of California, Los Angeles. He made his film debut in “War Hunt” in 1962, acting alongside Robert Redford. Wider recognition came in 1970, when director Robert Altman cast him as Captain Duke Forrest in the war satire “MAS*H”.
In 1979 he played Dallas, captain of the spaceship Nostromo, in Ridley Scott’s science-fiction horror film “Alien”. In the 1986 film “Top Gun” he played Mike “Viper” Metcalf, a veteran naval aviation instructor. Other roles included “Steel Magnolias”, “A River Runs Through It” and “Contact”. From 1992 to 1996 he played Sheriff Jimmy Brock in “Picket Fences”, winning the 1993 Emmy for best lead actor in a drama series. He later appeared in “Cheers”, “The West Wing” and “The Good Wife”. Over more than six decades he took part in over 150 film and television projects.
Work beyond the screen
Skerritt helped create the film education organisation TheFilmSchool in Seattle and was a co-founder of the Red Badge Project, which helps war veterans with post-traumatic stress, anxiety and depression through writing. He was also involved in efforts to protect American rivers.
Actress Julia Roberts, who appeared with him in “Steel Magnolias”, remembered him as a bright and warm-hearted person. Kathy Baker, his “Picket Fences” co-star, said she had lost a close friend. Skerritt leaves his wife Julie Tokashiki, five children, five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
