Tom Skerritt, Reassuring Face in American Movies, Dies at 93

Very sorry to hear about Tom Skerritt's passing today. He was 93.

If you grew up watching movies from the '70s and '80s, Skerritt was simply there, the guy with the mustache and those calm eyes. He exuded this solid, calm-guy-in-charge vibe, whether as a flight instructor in "Top Gun," a tough-but-fair sheriff on "Picket Fences" or the doomed captain of "Alien."

That last one is the role I keep coming back to. Captain Dallas is the hero of Ridley Scott's film for its first hour, and Skerritt plays him with such low-key competence that his trip into the air ducts is genuinely shocking. It's one of the great bait-and-switches in genre history, and it only works because Skerritt made you trust him.

His path there was a long one. He broke out as Captain Duke Forrest in Robert Altman's "MAS*H" in 1970. From there came "The Turning Point," small-town sheriffs in "The Dead Zone" and on "Picket Fences," for which he won an Emmy in 1993, plus a six-episode arc as Evan Drake on "Cheers." Add "Steel Magnolias," "Contact," and his quietly devastating turn as Brad Pitt's father in "A River Runs Through It," and you've got a career built on making every film around him better without ever demanding the spotlight.

Beyond the big titles, his filmography is full of fun detours. He popped up in Hal Ashby's "Harold and Maude," reunited with Altman for "Thieves Like Us," was comedic relief in “Steel Magnolias,” and played Strawberry in Cheech & Chong's "Up in Smoke.” Later in his career he became a welcome presence on prestige TV, appearing on "Madam Secretary," and "The Good Wife.”

He never really stopped, either. Skerritt kept acting into his 90s, with his final film role coming in the 2025 Western "Broke."

They don't really make this kind of actor anymore, the character lead who could anchor a scene with a look and then step aside. Hollywood is poorer for it today.