Tom Skerritt, star of 'Top Gun', 'Alien' and 'Picket Fences', dies at 93
The Emmy-winning actor died on Wednesday of natural causes, his family said. His career spanned more than six decades, from M*A*S*H to A River Runs Through It.
Tom Skerritt, the American actor best known as flight instructor Viper in "Top Gun", Captain Dallas in "Alien" and Sheriff Jimmy Brock in the TV series "Picket Fences", has died at the age of 93. His family said in a statement on Thursday that he died on Wednesday of natural causes. Where he died was not disclosed.
"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," the family said.
Born in Detroit in 1933, Skerritt served four years in the U.S. Air Force before turning to acting. He started out in TV westerns and dramas such as "The Virginian", "Gunsmoke" and "12 O'Clock High", and had one of his first big film roles as Captain "Duke" Forrest in Robert Altman's "M*A*S*H" (1970).
He went on to play the captain of the doomed spaceship Nostromo in Ridley Scott's "Alien" (1979), Commander Mike "Viper" Metcalf in "Top Gun" (1986), Drum Eatenton in "Steel Magnolias" (1989) and the minister father of two brothers in Robert Redford's "A River Runs Through It" (1992). On "Picket Fences" he played the lead role of Sheriff Jimmy Brock and won an Emmy for the part.
Away from the screen, his family said, he helped found TheFilmSchool in Seattle and co-founded the Red Badge Project, which helps veterans deal with PTSD, anxiety and depression through writing and sharing their stories. He is survived by his wife, Julie, five children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Memorial plans were not immediately announced.