Actor Tom Skerritt, star of Alien, Top Gun and Picket Fences, dies at 93

Actor Tom Skerritt, best known for playing Captain Dallas in Alien, Viper in Top Gun and a small-town sheriff on the TV series Picket Fences, has died of natural causes, according to a statement from a representative. He was 93.

Skerritt's career spanned decades and often placed him in positions of authority — commanding officers, police officers and fathers — with a screen presence that was frequently summed up with a single word: rugged.

A familiar face of authority

He appeared as an enlistee in the original film version of M*A*S*H, playing one of the few characters who did not carry over into the later television series. He was a Vietnam veteran in the comedy Up In Smoke, and he played sheriffs in both the movie The Dead Zone and on Picket Fences, work that earned him an Emmy in 1993.

Parent roles came his way as well: he was a father in Ice Castles, Steel Magnolias and A River Runs Through It. Early in his Hollywood career he moved through television, with appearances on shows including My Three Sons and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, and he formed friendships with figures such as Robert Redford and director Hal Ashby, who cast him in Harold and Maude as a police officer.

From Detroit to the Pacific Northwest

Skerritt described himself as a blue-collar kid from Detroit. He served in the Air Force before attending UCLA, where he turned toward theater.

Away from acting, he championed independent film and theater in the Pacific Northwest, where he lived. He co-founded The Red Badge Project, a program that offers storytelling courses to veterans so they can share their experiences.

Source: NPR News.