Tom Skerritt Dies at 93 – He Waited 30 Years to Be the Star, Then Left Hollywood Behind

Tom Skerritt, the actor behind Viper in "Top Gun," Captain Dallas in "Alien" and Sheriff Jimmy Brock in "Picket Fences," died of natural causes on Wednesday, October 21, 2026. He was 93. His family said they knew him "for his humor, curiosity, wisdom, generosity, and the love he brought into our lives," and Julia Roberts called him "a shining light of a gentle man." He called himself "a character actor locked in a leading man's body." This is the story of a shy kid from Detroit who served four years in the Air Force, started out in the same small war movie as Robert Redford, turned down "Alien" at first, stood next to Tom Cruise, Sigourney Weaver and Julia Roberts, finally won an Emmy as a leading man at 60, and then moved to Seattle to help veterans tell their stories through the Red Badge Project. Which Tom Skerritt role do you remember most? Tell us in the comments. CHAPTERS 0:00 The announcement 1:07 A shy kid from Detroit 2:06 The accidental actor 3:08 M*A*S*H, and the long fall 4:22 The movie he said no to 5:49 Viper 6:48 Julia's father 7:39 Redford comes back 8:27 Finally, the lead 9:41 Leaving Hollywood 10:49 The Red Badge Project 11:54 Still showing up 12:46 The man next to the star SOURCES CBS News – https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tom-sker... ABC7 – https://abc7.com/post/tom-skerritt-ac... Fox News – https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment... Variety – https://variety.com/2026/film/news/to... The Hollywood Reporter – https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/mov... Female First (Julia Roberts tribute) – https://www.femalefirst.co.uk/celebri... Consequence (Alien interview, 2019) – https://consequence.net/2019/05/alien... CBS News (Red Badge Project, 2024) – https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tom-sker... Filmtalk (2020 interview) – https://filmtalk.org/2020/06/15/tom-s... Parade (March 2026) – https://www.aol.com/top-gun-star-92-s... Wikipedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Ske... Photos: film and TV stills and publicity photos from news and archival sources; Portal to Texas History (UNT); Detroit Transit History. "Tom Skerritt 2014 (cropped)" by Gage Skidmore – CC BY-SA 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons)