Tom Skeritt could’ve retired from acting a long time ago and still have the one of the best acting resumes most people would’ve worked for scale to .
Starting out on TV shows like Combat! and The Virginian, he was one of the main characters as Capt. August Bedford “Duke” Forest in MASH directed by Combat! director Robert Altman. At first he sided with Hawkeye and Trapper John on their disdain for Maj. Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan. But he begins an affair with her later in the movie. The movie was groundbreaking for its mixture of comedy and gruesome gory images of surgery rooms. It’s also famous for being the first movie where a character drops the F-bomb done through Altman’s encouragement of actors ad-libbing.
Skerritt would also appear on the last aired Bonanza episode as an antagonistic Cpl. Bill Tanner. He co-starred wirh Burt Reynolds in Fuzz and made exploitation movies like Big Bad Mama with Angie Dickinson and William Shatner and The Devil’s Rain again with Shatner, Ernest Borgnine and a young John Travolta.
Then he made the critically acclaimed The Turning Point with Shirley MacLaine and Anne Bancroft playing a characer names Wayne Rodgers which is similar to the real-life Wayne Rogers who played Trapper John on the TV M*A*S*H show. He appeared in a glorified cameo as Strawberry, the cousin to Cheech Marin’s Pedro in Up in Smoke. He plays a Vietnam vet who suffers from extreme PTSD as well has having a huge birthmark on the side of his face. He’s able to intimidate Tommy Chong’s Anthony, aka Man, who can’t stop staring at the birthmark.
Skerritt may not have been a bigger name than Reynolds or Maclaine as the 1970s ended but he was creating an impressive resume. He continued to make guest star appearances on TV shows. That’s why when people went into the 1979 sci-fi/horror classic Alien, they expected his character of Nostromo Capt. Arthur Dallas to be the main hero. But in a Hitchcockian move of a bait and switch, his characer meets an unfortunate fate while tracking the Xenomorph on the ship. The classic movie has a cast of less than a dozen, that includes stuntpeople and the voice of “Mother” the ship’s main computer. So when Dallas meets his end about two-thirds in, you know all bets are off.
(For record, the Director’s Cut has Dallas appearing barely alive in the movie’s climax as the Xenomorph has him cocooned. As others have noted, each actor so far has died in real-life in the same sequence as their movie character counterpoints if you go by the longer version which had its scene cut for pacing. There’s also a few scenes that make Dallas seem more foolish which is why I’m glad Ridley Scott cut them.)
While he may have never had the leading man looks, his average Joe appareance made him a go-to actor in the 1970s when filmmakers used more average looking actors than cover story men. But the 1980s things began to change. Moving from his late 40s into his 50s, Skerritt actually embraced he was no longer younger. Many actors don’t want to do roles as parents but someone has to do it.
In 1986, he was cast alongside Tom Cruise as the father-figure Naval Cmdr. Mike “Viper” Metcalf in Top Gun. The same year he played father to Emilio Estevez in Wisdom. He had a supporting role as Sheriff George Bannerman in The Dead Zone. Even though he didn’t share the screen with co-star Martin Sheen, he would also go on to play the father of Charlie Sheen’s character in Clint Eastwood’s action movie The Rookie.
On TV he had a recurring role as Evan Drake, a wealthy Boston area businessman on Cheers. Following the departure of Shelley Long, he became the boss of Rebecca Howell (Kirstie Alley) and also an object of her obsession, often with hilarious results. He closed out the decade reteaming with MacLaine as Drum Eatonton in Steel Magnolias. As the wife to Sally Field’ M’Lynn and daughter to Julia Roberts’ Shelby, he was often at odds with MacLaine’s Ouiser who’s his neighbor. Despite their differences, they still seem to care for each other when times get rough.
In the 1990s, he appeared as the real-life Rev. John Maclean in Robert Redford’s A River Runs Through It. He played a Presbyterian minister raising two sons in the Rocky Mountain area of Montana. The movie led to Brad Pitt becoming an A-lister. It also had an increase in fly fishing as Maclean was an avid fisherman who taught his sons to enjoy the sport as an realm of spiritual enlightenment.
The same year that movie was released, Skerritt played Sheriff Jimmy Block on the show Picket Fences which was a lighter version of Twin Peaks. The show became controversial for a scene in which two women teenagers share a kiss at a sleepover that makes one question her own sexuality. The episode had to be reshot as the teens kiss in the dark. The show focused on other issues such as date rape, abortion, racism and religion among others.
The series was never a ratings hit but did win 14 Primetime Emmys during its 1992-1996 series run with Skerritt winning Outstanding Leader Actor in a TV Drama Series. The movie roles also became less stellar as Skerritt would play more fathers and grandfathers, most notably in The Other Sister as the loving dentist father to Juliette Lewis’ developmentally disabled character. By today’s standards, it can be seen offensive at times. I also found the issue where his characer gives toothbrushes instead of candy to Trick-or-Treaters a dick move. My mom was a dental hygienist and she gave out candy and even apples. You know he gets those toothbrushes in bulk and writes them off as a business expense.
A new century brought more roles on TV and in movies. He played Gen. William Westmoreland in the 2002 HBO movie Path to Glory, which is the last directing credit of John Frankenheimer who died shortly after it was first broadcast. He appeared in a cameo as himself in Ted in 2012.
Well into his 90s, he continues to act. Skerritt passed away on Oct. 21 at the age of 93 at his home in Seattle. The website imdb.com credits him with 178 roles throughout a career of 65 years. Prior to acting he had served four years in the U.S Air Force.
What is your favorite role of his? Please comment.
