Tom Skerritt, star of Alien and Top Gun, dies at 93 of natural causes, family says

Death and family statement

Tom Skerritt died on Wednesday, 21 October 2026, at the age of 93. His family announced the death on Thursday, 22 October, saying he had died of natural causes. In their statement, the family said the world knew him through his acting career, while they knew him for his humour, curiosity, wisdom and generosity. They added that he cared deeply about veterans, the natural world and helping others find their own voices. His career spanned more than six decades, and his screen credits included more than 250 television films and episodes.

Early life and first film

Skerritt was born in Detroit on 25 August 1933, and he served four years in the United States Air Force before turning to acting. He attended Wayne State University and then moved to the University of California, Los Angeles, to study filmmaking, a path sparked by a viewing of Citizen Kane. His first film role came in 1962 in War Hunt, an independent Korean War drama with a budget of $250,000, where he played a sergeant in a supporting part. The film marked the feature debuts of Skerritt, Robert Redford, Sydney Pollack and Francis Ford Coppola. Skerritt and Redford had competed for the same lead role, and Redford won it.

Breakthrough film roles

Skerritt built his film career through the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s with a run of notable parts. He played surgeon Duke Forrest in Robert Altman's MAS*H in 1970, and in 1977 he appeared in The Turning Point opposite Shirley MacLaine as her patient husband. In 1979 he played Dallas, the captain of a doomed spacecraft in Ridley Scott's Alien, a film that received two Oscar nominations. In 1986 he played the flight instructor Mike "Viper" Metcalf in Top Gun opposite Tom Cruise. Later roles included the husband of Sally Field's character in Steel Magnolias (1989), the patriarch in A River Runs Through It (1992), directed by Robert Redford, and a scheming opportunist who obstructs Jodie Foster's character in Contact (1997).

Television and the Emmy

In television, his most celebrated role was Jimmy Brock, the sheriff in Picket Fences, a series set in a town in Wisconsin. Skerritt won the Emmy for outstanding lead actor in a drama series in 1993 for that role. He was nominated for the Emmy twice, and both nominations were for Picket Fences. He also appeared in Cheers, The West Wing, Law & Order: SVU, Brothers & Sisters and Ted, which showed his range across film and television.

Stage work and later reflections

On stage, he narrated Our Town at the Intiman Theatre in Seattle in 2004. In 2013 he made his Broadway debut in an adaptation of John Grisham's A Time to Kill, playing a disgraced, alcoholic lawyer. The Associated Press said he gave that character a charming edge. In a 1997 interview with the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, he recalled how a writer had once described him.

A writer once described me as a character actor locked in a leading man's body, and I've always loved that.

He said he had been able to move comfortably between television and feature films.