Tom Skerritt is an American actor who has appeared in over 40 films and more than 200 television episodes since 1962. He is best known for his roles in MASH, Alien, Top Gun, A River Runs Through It, and the TV series Picket Fences.
Alien franchise credits[]
Filmography[]
- War Hunt (1962) - Sgt. Stan Showalter
- One Man's Way (1964) - Leonard Peal
- Those Calloways (1965) - Whit Turner
- MASH (1970) - Capt. Augustus Bedford 'Duke' Forrest
- Wild Rovers (1971) - John Buckman
- Harold and Maude (1971) - Motorcycle Officer, credited as M. Borman
- Fuzz (1972) - Det. Bert Kling
- Thieves Like Us (1974) - Dee Mobley
- Run, Run, Joe! (1974) - Margherito
- Big Bad Mama (1974) - Fred Diller
- The Devil's Rain (1975) - Tom Preston
- Plot of Fear (1976) - Chief Inspector
- Madama, La (1976) - Rick Dylan
- The Turning Point (1977) - Wayne
- Up in Smoke (1978) - Strawberry
- Ice Castles (1978) - Marcus Winston
- Alien (1979) - Dallas
- A Dangerous Summer (1981) - Howard Anderson
- Savage Harvest (1981) - Casey
- Silence of the North (1981) - Walter Reamer
- Fighting Back (1982) - John D'Angelo
- The Dead Zone (1983) - Sheriff George Bannerman
- Top Gun (1986) - Cmdr. Mike 'Viper' Metcalf
Biographical information[]
Early life[]
Skerritt was born in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Helen, a homemaker, and Roy Skerritt, a businessman. A 1951 graduate of Detroit's Mackenzie High School, Skerritt attended Wayne State University and the University of California at Los Angeles.
Film career[]
Skerritt made his film debut in War Hunt, produced by Terry Sanders and released in 1962. Skerritt's notable film appearances include MASH (1970), Harold and Maude (credited as "M. Borman"), Big Bad Mama, Cheech & Chong's Up In Smoke, Ice Castles, as Captain A.J. Dallas in Alien, as a would-be astronaut in Contact and SpaceCamp, and in Top Gun as Commander Mike "Viper" Metcalf. In 1988, he starred with Nancy Allen and Lara Flynn Boyle in Poltergeist III.
Skerrit starred in the television series Bonanza, Gunsmoke Episode: Jubilee, as well as Evan Drake on Cheers. He then appeared in Picket Fences, in the role of Sheriff Jimmy Brock, for which he won an Emmy. More recently, he has starred in Homeland Security and The Grid.
Personal life[]
Since 1988, he has divided his domestic life between his Lake Washington home in suburban Seattle, Washington and a home on Lopez Island in the San Juan Islands. Skerritt has four grown children (three sons and one daughter) and an adopted daughter with his current wife.