Tom Skerritt, actor in Alien, MAS*H and Top Gun, dies at 93
Tom Skerritt died on Wednesday of natural causes at 93, his family said, after a film and television career stretching from the 1960s into the 2020s.
Detroit, United States. Tom Skerritt, the Detroit-born actor whose Hollywood successes included “Alien,” “MAS*H” and “Top Gun,” has died aged 93. His family announced that he died of natural causes on Wednesday.
A career across genres
Skerritt’s work in Hollywood began in the 1960s and continued into the 2020s. Recognised for his rugged appearance and versatility, he made his mark in both starring and supporting parts across television and film, including science fiction, wartime comedy and action drama.
In their statement, his relatives said that audiences knew his acting, while the family also valued his wit, inquisitiveness, wisdom, generosity and affection. They said his interests encompassed imagination, creative expression, storytelling, service, veterans and nature, alongside supporting people in discovering and expressing their own voices.
Breakthrough in MAS*H
His breakthrough came with Robert Altman’s “MAS*H,” the 1970 black comedy set during the Korean War. He portrayed Duke Forrest, a roguish Army surgeon from the American South, working alongside doctors treating wounded soldiers at a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital.
Donald Sutherland, Elliott Gould and Sally Kellerman were also members of the ensemble. The film became popular amid American disquiet about the Vietnam War and received five Academy Award nominations.
Alien and an enduring ensemble
In Ridley Scott’s 1979 science-fiction horror film “Alien,” Skerritt portrayed Dallas, captain of a doomed spacecraft. Its crew encounters a lethal, parasitic alien with a surreal appearance and hostile disposition, within the film’s confined, claustrophobic setting.
During the notorious, bloody sequence known as the “chestburster” scene, Dallas sits beside the character portrayed by John Hurt as an infant alien violently bursts out of Hurt’s character’s torso.
The influential film, regarded as a science-fiction masterpiece, also featured Sigourney Weaver and Ian Holm. It received two Oscar nominations.
Discussing the production with interviewer Peter Sobczynski in 2019, Skerritt emphasised the performers’ instinctive connection and praised Scott’s brilliance as a director.
“It is spontaneity and impulse that make the difference, and that is what I felt we had with ‘Alien.’ Every one of us had that immediate rapport with each other — the respect that I had for the other actors and the respect that they had for me,” Skerritt said.
“Alien” was among several Skerritt films featuring prominent, strong women. Weaver’s courageous Ripley was regarded as a pioneering character at the time.
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