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

Tom Skerritt, the actor best known for Top Gun, Alien and Picket Fences, has died at 93. 

Skerritt died on Wednesday, 21 October, of natural causes, his family confirmed. 

“We are heartbroken by his loss,” they said in a statement, remembering him for his humour, wisdom and generosity.

“While the world knew Tom through his remarkable acting career, we knew him for his humor, curiosity, wisdom, generosity and the love he brought into our lives,” the family said. 

They added that he cared deeply about imagination, creativity, storytelling, service, veterans, the natural world and helping others find and share their own voices.

Skerritt’s career spanned six decades. 

His breakthrough came in the 1970 war comedy MASH*. He went on to play Captain Dallas in the 1979 sci-fi classic Alien and Tom Cruise’s no-nonsense flight instructor “Viper” in 1986’s Top Gun. 

His other film credits include The Turning Point, in which he played Shirley MacLaine’s husband, Steel Magnolias and Robert Redford’s A River Runs Through It.

On television, he starred for four seasons on CBS from 1992 as small-town Sheriff Jimmy Brock in David E. Kelley’s Picket Fences, winning an Emmy for the role in 1993. 

He also appeared in Cheers and in Ted.

Born Thomas Roy Skerritt in Detroit on 25 August 1933, he served in the US Air Force before Hollywood came calling, and later became an advocate for veterans. 

He studied English at Wayne State University in his hometown.

TMZ last caught up with him at LAX in 2009, when he was asked whether there would ever be a Top Gun sequel.