Tom Skerritt, Alien's Nostromo captain and Top Gun's Viper, dies at 93
The American actor died on Wednesday of natural causes, his family said. He won an Emmy in 1993 for Picket Fences and worked through M*A*S*H, Steel Magnolias and A River Runs Through It.
Tom Skerritt died on Wednesday, 21 October, at the age of 93. His publicist confirmed the death the following day, and his family said in a statement that he died of natural causes.
He was one of those actors people recognise before they can place the name. In Alien, in 1979, he was Dallas, captain of the Nostromo, the man who climbs into the air ducts with a flamethrower. Seven years later, in Top Gun, he was Viper, Tom Cruise’s flight instructor at the Navy’s fighter school.
Air Force first
Before acting he spent four years in the US Air Force. His first film was War Hunt in 1962, and the next decade moved him between cinema and television, with Duke in Robert Altman’s M*A*S*H along the way.
The 1980s and 90s brought the recognition. He won a National Board of Review award for The Turning Point, played Sally Field’s husband in Steel Magnolias and the minister father in Robert Redford’s A River Runs Through It, and turned up opposite Jodie Foster in Contact.
Sheriff Jimmy Brock
On television his biggest role was Sheriff Jimmy Brock in Picket Fences, from 1992 to 1996. It earned him two nominations and, in 1993, the Emmy for lead actor in a drama series, as the Television Academy’s page on Skerritt records. He also had recurring parts in Cheers, Brothers and Sisters and Leverage.
Alien remains his most lasting mark, the film that made Ridley Scott’s name and still the yardstick for him decades on, as came up again when Scott’s latest film reached cinemas in August.
Skerritt is survived by his wife, Julie Tokashiki, and five children.
By Lucy Bennett
Image: Gage Skidmore / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
