Tom Skerritt, 'Alien' and 'Top Gun' Star, Dies at 93 From Natural Causes
Tom Skerritt, the Emmy-winning actor best known as Captain Dallas in “Alien” and Commander Viper in “Top Gun,” has died at 93. His family confirmed in a statement that he died of natural causes on Wednesday, October 21.
A career that spanned six decades
Skerritt's Hollywood career stretched from the 1960s into the 2020s. He broke through as the roguish Army surgeon Duke Forrest in director Robert Altman's 1970 war comedy "M*A*S*H," a film nominated for five Academy Awards. By the end of the decade, he played Dallas, the captain of the doomed spacecraft Nostromo, in Ridley Scott's 1979 science-fiction classic "Alien."
'Viper' and an Emmy win
In 1986, Skerritt stepped into the role of commanding officer Mike "Viper" Metcalf in "Top Gun," sternly training Tom Cruise's Maverick at the Navy's elite fighter-weapons school. On television, he won the 1993 Emmy for outstanding lead actor in a drama series for playing Sheriff Jimmy Brock on CBS's "Picket Fences."
Remembered for more than acting
His family said that while the world knew him through his remarkable acting career, they knew him for his humor, curiosity, wisdom and generosity. Skerritt also served in the US Air Force before studying filmmaking at UCLA, and his credits included "Steel Magnolias," "A River Runs Through It," "The Dead Zone" and "Contact."
He is survived by his wife Julie, five children and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Photo: Gage Skidmore / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.
Sources: Reuters, USA TODAY
