Tom Skerritt Dies at 93: Alien and Top Gun Actor Remembered

Tom Skerritt, the actor best known as Capt. Dallas in Alien and Cmdr. Mike “Viper” Metcalf in Top Gun, has died at 93. Tom Skerritt dies after a screen career of more than six decades: he died of natural causes on Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026, at his home in Seattle, his family said in a statement on Thursday, according to The Seattle Times.

Image: Actor Tom Skerritt. Photo: Gage Skidmore, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0).

The family’s 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,” his family said, as quoted by The Seattle Times and the BBC. “We are heartbroken by his loss.”

He is survived by his wife, Julie Tokashiki, five children, five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, The Seattle Times reported. The family said information about a memorial will be shared later.

From Detroit and the Air Force to M*A*S*H

Skerritt was born on Aug. 25, 1933, in Detroit and served four years in the U.S. Air Force before turning to acting, according to The Seattle Times. His film debut came in the 1962 war drama War Hunt, opposite a young Robert Redford.

His breakthrough arrived in 1970, when Robert Altman cast him as Capt. Augustus “Duke” Forrest, a surgeon in the original film of M*A*S*H. Through the 1970s he worked steadily in films including Harold and Maude, The Turning Point (1977) and Cheech and Chong’s Up in Smoke.

Alien, Top Gun and the roles audiences remember

In Ridley Scott’s 1979 science-fiction horror film Alien, Skerritt played Dallas, captain of the commercial spaceship Nostromo, whose crew is stalked by a deadly creature. In a 2019 interview cited by Reuters and the BBC, he described what he valued in the way the film was made: “It is spontaneity and impulse that make the difference,” he said.

Seven years later he played Viper, the commander of the Navy’s elite fighter-pilot school, in the 1986 blockbuster Top Gun starring Tom Cruise. Other well-known credits include The Dead Zone, Steel Magnolias (1989), Robert Redford’s A River Runs Through It (1992), Cameron Crowe’s Seattle-set Singles (1992), Contact, Smoke Signals and Ted.

An Emmy for Picket Fences and a turn in Cheers

Television brought Skerritt his biggest award. He won an Emmy in 1993 for playing Sheriff Jimmy Brock on the CBS drama Picket Fences, which ran from 1992 to 1996, NBC News and The Seattle Times reported. Lauren Holly, who co-starred in the series, called him “our leader” in a tribute.

Boston viewers may remember him from Cheers, the sitcom set in a Boston bar, where he played Evan Drake, a wealthy corporate executive and love interest for Kirstie Alley’s Rebecca Howe, in six episodes. The bar that inspired the show still draws visitors on Beacon Street; see our guide to Cheers Beacon Hill, with menu and hours. Later on TV, Skerritt played William Walker in Brothers & Sisters from 2007 to 2009 and guest-starred on The West Wing, Madam Secretary and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

A Seattle life: film school, veterans and the arts

Skerritt made Seattle his home and built a second career there teaching and supporting local film. He co-founded TheFilmSchool in Seattle, which ran from 2004 to 2019, and in 2012 co-founded the Red Badge Project, which uses storytelling to help veterans, according to The Seattle Times. He launched a media company, Heyou Media, in 2016 and served on the Seattle Arts Commission.

Late in his career he starred in the 2021 drama East of the Mountains. He received the Seattle International Film Festival’s Mary Pickford Award and, in 2022, a mayor’s arts award, The Seattle Times reported.

“On screen, Tom Skerritt was a beloved actor with a calm and inimitable style,” SIFF’s Beth Barrett said in a tribute quoted by The Seattle Times.

Skerritt’s death comes in a week of entertainment news that also included the Glee revival headed to Disney+ and Hulu. For many fans, his steady, unshowy performances in Alien, Top Gun and Picket Fences will be how he is remembered.

Sources

• The Seattle Times: Tom Skerritt, star of ‘Alien’ and familiar face at SIFF, dies at 93
• BBC News: Top Gun and Alien actor Tom Skerritt dies aged 93
• NBC News: Tom Skerritt, star of ‘Alien’ and ‘Top Gun,’ dies at 93
• Wikimedia Commons: Tom Skerritt, photo by Gage Skidmore (CC BY-SA 2.0)