James Tolkan, A Veteran Character Actor, Who Was No Slacker

James Tolkan had been a character actor for over 20 years when he appeared as Principal Strickland in “Back to the Future.”

He had a history of playing authority figures in “Serpico,” “The Amityville Horror” and “WarGames.” So it was only natural with his male-pattern baldness and commanding voice, he would play Strickland in the 1985 blockbuster calling everyone he didn’t care for a “slacker.”

And the word entered the vernacular for many Gen Xers. At only 5-foot-6, he even intimidated the hulking Biff Tannen played by Thomas F. Wilson. 

His next role would be as Tom Cruise’s supervisor Cmdr. Tom “Stinger” Jardian who recommends Cruise’s Maverick for the titular school in “Top Gun. “

Following the success of “Future,” Tolkan returned as Strickland in the second movie and his paternal grandfather Marshal James Strickland in the third movie which is set mostly in 1885.

While Principal Strickland isn’t given a first name, in the novelization written by George Gipe, it’s Gerald.

However in the 1955 sequence in the second movie, his initials are S.S. My guess this is a play on the way Strickland seems like a Gestapo character. 

He would reappear alongside Serpico actor Al Pacino in Dick Tracy as “Numbers.”

Tolkan passed away on March 26 at the age of 94. 

With over 80 movie and TV credits, he wasn’t a slacker.