Tom Skerritt Dies at 93: 'Top Gun' and 'Alien' Actor
Viper in Top Gun. The doomed captain in Alien. The sheriff of Picket Fences, the role that won him an Emmy in 1993. Tom Skerritt died Wednesday of natural causes, his family said in a statement. He was 93.
"We are heartbroken by his loss," the family said. "While the world knew Tom through his remarkable acting career, we knew him for his humor, curiosity, wisdom, generosity, and the love he brought into our lives." His publicist confirmed the death to CBS News on Thursday.
From Detroit to Viper
Skerritt was born August 25, 1933, in Detroit and served in the US Air Force before turning to acting, ABC News reported. NPR reports he attended UCLA and started in theater. His film debut came in the 1962 war drama War Hunt, opposite Robert Redford, and he appeared in Robert Altman's 1970 M*A*S*H.
The roles that defined him came in a run. In 1979, he played the captain in Ridley Scott's Alien. In Top Gun, he was Commander Mike "Viper" Metcalf, the flight instructor. In between and after, he played Shirley MacLaine's patient husband in The Turning Point, Sally Field's husband in Steel Magnolias, Brad Pitt's minister father in A River Runs Through It, and the scheming opportunist standing in Jodie Foster's way in Contact.
On television, he played Sheriff Jimmy Brock on David E. Kelley's Picket Fences. He was nominated for an Emmy twice, both times for that show, and won outstanding lead actor in a drama series in 1993, according to CBS News.
Beyond the screen
Skerritt helped found TheFilmSchool in Seattle to support aspiring filmmakers and storytellers, ABC News reported. His family's statement said he cared deeply about "imagination, creativity, storytelling, service, veterans, the natural world and helping others find and share their own voices."
He is survived by his wife, Julie Tokashiki, five children, five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
NPR reports Skerritt described himself as a blue-collar kid from Detroit. Looking back on his career, he once said he felt "a great sense of gratitude and appreciation and good fortune" for the amount of work he had been part of.
