Alien and Top Gun actor Tom Skerritt has passed away

The American actor, also known for his roles in MASH, Harold and Maude and the series Picket Fences, died at 93.

It’s a familiar face of American cinema who is disappearing.

Tom Skerritt, veteran actor seen in classics like Alien, the eighth passenger And Top Gundied Wednesday of natural causes, at the age of 93. His family announced the news in a statement sent to Entertainment Weeklysaying to himself “upset” by this disappearance.

“If the world knew Tom through his remarkable acting career, we knew him for his humor, his curiosity, his wisdom, his generosity and the love he brought into our lives. He placed great importance on imagination, creativity, storytelling, service, veterans, nature, and his desire to help others find their own voice and make it heard. We are infinitely grateful for the love and support shown by his friends, colleagues and admirers.“

Born in Detroit in 1933, Tom Skerritt served four years in the United States Air Force after high school. And it is precisely a military role that will have a lasting mark on his career. In 1986, the actor returned to uniform in Top Gunwhere he plays Commander Mike “Viper” Metcalf, an instructor responsible for training pilots at the elite American naval aviation school. Opposite him, Tom Cruise plays Pete “Maverick” Mitchell and Anthony Edwards plays Nick “Goose” Bradshaw. A performance which will remain one of his most popular roles.

Long before that, he had made his mark in the cinema in MASH (1970), Robert Altman’s antimilitarist satire, in which he played surgeon Duke Forrest. He will find the filmmaker in We are all thieves (1974), while multiplying the supporting roles in films like Harold and Maude And The Turning Point.

Unforgettable captain of‘Alien, the eighth passenger (1979), he made an impression under the direction of Ridley Scott, in the costume of Captain Dallas, commander of the Nostromo, the spaceship whose crew finds itself confronted with a murderous extraterrestrial creature. His character is among the monster’s first victims in this horror science fiction classic.

The actor will then continue his career in very different registers. We find it in The Dead Zone by David Cronenberg, the science fiction adventure SpaceCamp and the horror film Poltergeist III. He also plays Drum, the husband of M’Lynn, played by Sally Field, and the father of Shelby, played by Julia Roberts, in Women’s gossip (1989). The Hollywood star posted a touching message on the networks to remember him:

On television, he is a hit across the Atlantic in the series Picket Fencesbroadcast in the 1990s. He played Sheriff Jimmy Brock, a role which earned him the Emmy Award for Best Actor in 1993.

With more than sixty years of career, Tom Skerritt will have spanned genres and generations.