Tom Skerritt, an Emmy-winning actor who played steady, flinty men—often authority figures—in films and TV shows spanning six decades, has died. He was 93. His family said Skerritt died Wednesday of natural causes. The Detroit native broke through as Duke Forrest in M*A*S*H and played instructor "Viper" in Top Gun, per the Hollywood Reporter. On TV, Skerritt starred in David E. Kelley's Picket Fences as small-town sheriff Jimmy Brock, for which he won an Emmy Award in 1993.
Skerritt became a go-to presence in films like Alien, The Turning Point, and Steel Magnolias, and on TV in such shows as Cheers, Brothers and Sisters, and even Ted. Offscreen, Skerritt cofounded Seattle's TheFilmSchool and the Red Badge Project for veterans dealing with PTSD, and backed river conservation efforts inspired in part by A River Runs Through It. That film, directed by Robert Redford, is the one he singled out when asked about his favorite role, per People. "I suppose the one that moves me most was A River Runs Through It, playing the reverend," Skerritt told Closer Weekly. "That's an exquisite-looking film, and it's so American and quite moving."
He appeared onstage, as well, including in an adaptation of John Grisham's A Time to Kill on Broadway, per the AP. "A writer once described me as a character actor locked in a leading man's body, and I've always loved that," Skerritt once told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. "It's a nice compliment."
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