Actor Tom Skerritt Dies: ‘Alien’ and ‘Top Gun’ Actor Was 93

Tom Skerritt, the veteran actor best known for his roles in iconic films such as M*A*S*H, Alien, and Top Gun, as well as his portrayal of Sheriff Jimmy Brock on the quirky 1990s drama Picket Fences, has died. He was 93.

According to the statement made by the family to ABC News, Skerritt passed away Wednesday, October 21, of natural causes.

“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. He cared deeply about imagination, creativity, storytelling, service, veterans, the natural world, and helping others find and share their own voices,” the announcement said.

Skerritt enjoyed an impressive career spanning roughly 65 years in film and television, with memorable roles in movies like Top Gun, Steel Magnolias, and A River Runs Through It. Television audiences will remember him best for his starring role in the 1990s drama Picket Fences.

Skerritt made his big-screen debut in the 1962 war drama War Hunt, but it was Robert Altman‘s 1970 dark comedy M*A*S*H that put him on the map. Playing Duke Forrest, a Southern surgeon stationed at a mobile Army hospital during the Korean War, Skerritt made an early impression alongside Donald Sutherland‘s Hawkeye Pierce and Elliott Gould‘s “Trapper John” McIntyre.

Among Skerritt’s many film roles, a few standouts include Captain Arthur Dallas, the levelheaded commander of the commercial spaceship Nostromo, in 1979’s Alien. He followed with a role as Sheriff George Bannock, a lawman investigating a serial killer in 1983’s The Dead Zone. In 1986, he portrayed Commander Mike “Viper” Metcalf, the veteran Navy flight instructor in Top Gun, before playing the eccentric Southern father Drum in 1989’s Steel Magnolias. He later starred as Reverend Maclean, the stern but loving father of two sons in Robert Redford‘s 1992 drama A River Runs Through It, and played the ambitious scientist Dr. David Drumlin in 1997’s Contact.

On television, Skerritt made guest appearances on My Favorite Martian, Bonanza, Gunsmoke, Death Valley Days, and Cannon before landing a recurring role as Evan Drake on Cheers in the late 1980s. His most celebrated TV role came in the ’90s as Sheriff Jimmy Brock on CBS’s Picket Fences, which earned him an Emmy for Lead Actor in a Drama Series. He later appeared as William Walker on Brothers & Sisters and Ezekiel in the miniseries Fallen.

Skerrit is survived by his wife Julie, children Andy, Erin, Matt, Collin, and Emiko, grandchildren Sara, Maddison, Sunny, Louisa, and Georgia, and great-grandchildre Marigold and Ravi.