Tom Skerritt, the Emmy-winning actor who embodied a solid, wry authority figure, whether as a flight instructor in “Top Gun,” a tough-but-fair sheriff on TV’s “Picket Fences” or the doomed captain of “Alien,” has died.
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who → win → Alien
Skerritt died Wednesday of natural causes, his family said in a statement.
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family → die → statement
“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.
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he → know → lives
He cared deeply about imagination, creativity, storytelling, service, veterans, the natural world and helping others find and share their own voices,” the statement said.
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statement → care → voices
Skerritt was twice nominated for an Emmy — both for “Picket Fences,” winning outstanding lead actor in a drama series in 1993.
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Skerritt → nominate → 1993
Other career highlights include playing the patient husband of Shirley MacLaine in “Turning Point,” Sally Field’s husband in “Steel Magnolias” and a scheming opportunist who stands in the way of Jodie Foster’s attempt to communicate with extraterrestrial life in “Contact.”
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who → include → Contact
“A writer once described me as a character actor locked in a leading man’s body, and I’ve always loved that.
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I → describe → that
It’s a nice compliment.
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It → ’ → ?
I’ve been able to walk the line between television and features,” he told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer in 1997.
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he → walk → 1997
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,” in which The Associated Press wrote he “nicely pulls off a charming disgraced and drunken lawyer.”
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he → make → lawyer
Skerritt grew up in a middle-class Detroit family, his father a small businessman and his mother a housewife.
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mother → grow → family
He had two brothers; a sister died as a child.
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sister → have → child
He spent four years in the 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.”
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He → spend → Kane
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His performance in a Los Angeles theater production of “The Rainmaker” led to his first film role — a supporting role as a sergeant in the 1962 scrappy, $250,000 independent Korean War film “War Hunt.”
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performance → get → film
The movie marked the debuts of Skerritt, Robert Redford, Sydney Pollack and Francis Ford Coppola.
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movie → mark → Skerritt
Redford and Skerritt were vying for the same lead role, with the former winning out.
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former → vie → role
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.
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passions → direct → Maclean
The New York Times was impressed by his “halting, thoughtful manner.”
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Times → impress → manner
Redford, who died last year, became a lifelong friend.
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who → die → ?
“There was such a deep connection we made with each other that it matured into a level-headed friendship,” Redford told the Seattle Times in 2007.
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Redford → be → 2007
“His values were close to mine, and he kept his integrity.
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he → keep → integrity
‘Alien’ and ‘Top Gun’
After “War Hunt,” however, Skerritt still struggled for screen time, landing a small role in “M.A.S.H.” and “Thieves Like Us” for Robert Altman, and doing a bit part as a motorcycle cop in “Harold and Maude” for Hal Ashby.
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Skerritt → struggle → Ashby
Things changed with “The Turning Point,” which earned him a National Board of Review win.
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which → change → win
Then came “Alien,” with Skerritt playing the beleaguered and doomed captain of the ship Nostromo, crouched in a dark, claustrophobic duct, hunting the alien with a sputtering flamethrower.
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Skerritt → come → flamethrower
He told the Seattle Times that what appealed to him in the script was that the lead actor disappeared and “the woman becomes the hero.
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woman → tell → script
I really like that idea.”
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I → like → idea
Things shifted again after that, including a memorable role as Tom Cruise’s instructor in the landmark “Top Gun”: “Gentlemen, you are the top 1% of all Naval aviators.
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you → shift → aviators
We’ll make you better,” he told the students.
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he → make → students
Skerritt achieved perhaps his best notices as the kindly sheriff in “Picket Fences,” a comedy created by David E. Kelley that won 14 Emmy Awards — one for Skerritt — and a Golden Globe over its four-year run from 1992 to 1996.
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that → achieve → 1996
Skerritt co-starred opposite Kathy Baker, playing his doctor wife in the community of Rome, Wisconsin, a place with bizarre happenings, like having a robber leaving a trail of frogs or the pope becoming the primary witness to a murder.
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pope → co → murder
“It was written by the best writer on television,” he told the A.V. Club in 2019.
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he → write → 2019
Because I wasn’t trying to do a series, but then they said Kathy Baker was going to do it, and I thought, ‘She’s fabulous — what do they want me for?’”
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they → try → me
Also on the small screen, Skerritt played William Walker on ABC’s “Brothers and Sisters,” Jimmy Ford on TNT’s “Leverage” and he had the recurring character Evan Drake on “Cheers.”
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he → play → Cheers
He starred in the Hallmark movie “What the Deaf Man Heard,” co-starring Matthew Modine, Judith Ivey and James Earl Jones.
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Man → star → Modine
He also modeled for Guess jeans.
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He → model → jeans
Directing and writing — his 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.
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he → overtake → 1992
“You get hired for a film and the roles kept coming for me.
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roles → hire → 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.
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problems → keep → directing
Then the family came along and I had to support them.
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I → come → 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.
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I → fly → directing
…and 2 more, not listed.
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