The death has been announced of the American actor Tom Skerritt, best known for his roles in the films Alien and Top Gun and the television series Picket Fences. He was 93.
US entertainment trade publication The Hollywood Reporter says Skerritt’s family announced that he died on Wednesday of natural causes.
“We are heartbroken by his loss,” the family said.
Tom Skerritt as Commander Mike ‘Viper’ Metcalf in Top Gun
“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.
“He cared deeply about imagination, creativity, storytelling, service, veterans, the natural world, and helping others find and share their own voices.”
Skerritt played Captain Dallas in Ridley Scott’s Alien and Air Force instructor Mike ‘Viper’ Metcalf in Top Gun, which was directed by Ridley Scott’s brother Tony.
Prior to his acting career, Skerritt had served in the United States Air Force in the 1950s.
In the 1990s TV series Picket Fences, the Detroit native played Sheriff Jimmy Brock for four seasons, winning the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series in 1993.
On the big screen, his many films included M*A*S*H, The Turning Point, The Dead Zone, Steel Magnolias, A River Runs Through It, Contact, and Ted.
On television, his credits included The Virginian, Bonanza, The Fugitive, Cheers, The West Wing, and Brothers & Sisters.
“A writer once described me as a character actor locked in a leading man’s body, and I’ve always loved that,” he told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer in 1997.
“It’s a nice compliment. I’ve been able to walk the line between television and features.”
Tom Skerritt as Sheriff Jimmy Brock in Picket Fences
Onstage, he was the narrator in 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.
Skerritt grew up in a middle-class Detroit family, his father a small businessman and his mother a housewife. He had two brothers; a sister died as a child.
He spent four years in the United States Air Force, attended Wayne State University, and then switched to the University of California, Los Angeles, to study filmmaking, inspired by a viewing of Citizen Kane.
His performance in a Los Angeles theatre production of The Rainmaker led to his first film role – a supporting role as a sergeant in the 1962 independent Korean War film War Hunt.
The film marked the debuts of Skerritt, Robert Redford, Sydney Pollack, and Francis Ford Coppola.
Redford and Skerritt were vying for the same lead role, with the former winning out.
Years later, Redford, now directing, paid Skerritt back with compound interest in A River Runs Through It, handing him the plum role of the stern Rev John Maclean, a minister whose governing passions are his faith and fly-fishing.
Redford, who died last year, became a lifelong friend.
Directing and writing – Skerritt’s initial dream – had been overtaken by a career in front of the camera, though he managed to direct and star in the 1997 television movie Divided by Hate.
“Things happen,” he told The Ottawa Citizen in 1992.
“You get hired for a film and the roles kept coming for me.
“I kept telling myself that if I stuck with acting, it would be a really good training for what the problems are in directing.
“Then the family came along and I had to support them.
“The years flew by and there was a time when I said I would give up acting and really try to get into directing.
“But it hasn’t worked out that way and I have no regrets.”
Skerritt is survived by his third wife, Julie Tokashiki, and five children.
Additional Reporting: Press Association/Associated Press