Tom Skerritt, the American screen actor who was first billed in Ridley Scott’s horror classic “Alien” (1979) and sustained a career spanning more than seven decades, died Wednesday of natural causes, according to media reports. He was 93.
Skerritt first rose to prominence with a breakout turn in Robert Altman’s Korean War comedy “M*A*S*H,” playing the surgeon Duke Forrest. He was third-billed in the feature, after then-more-established stars Donald Sutherland and Elliott Gould. The role launched him to a prolific Hollywood career that saw him garner more than 100 screen credits. He kept acting through the final years of his life, with his most recent project being a supporting role in the 2025 Western “Broke” starring Wyatt Russell.
After a series of prominent roles through the ’70s (and a small one as a motorcycle cop in 1971’s “Harold and Maude”), Skerritt’s most enduring role came with “Alien,” in which he played Dallas, captain of the spaceship Nostromo. He was the film‘s top-billed star, ahead of Sigourney Weaver, but his character doesn’t end up as one of the longest-standing survivors of the Xenomorph.
In 1993, Skerritt won a Primetime Emmy award for his performance as the sheriff Jimmy Brock in the CBS series “Picket Fences”; he was nominated again the following year. The program’s third and fourth seasons also won outstanding performance by an ensemble in a drama series at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, in 1995 and 1996 respectively.
More to come…