Tom Skerritt, everyman actor of ‘Alien’ and ‘Picket Fences’ fame, dead at 93

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Tom Skerritt, the plucky and handsome actor who charmed audiences on both the big and small screen in titles ranging from “Top Gun” to “Picket Fences,” has died. He was 93.

The news was confirmed via Skerritt’s publicist Susan Madore, who sent a family statement that detailed he died on Wednesday of natural causes.

Skerritt was best known for film appearances in “Alien” and “Steel Magnolias,” along with his starring role on the David E. Kelley-created CBS series “Picket Fences,” which ran from 1992 to 1996 and netted him a Primetime Emmy for outstanding lead actor. In the darkly comic series, Skerritt played an aging sheriff struggling to keep things calm in his small town, solidifying his trademark mix of unflappable authority and disarming likeability.

With screen credits reaching as far back as the early 1960s, Skerritt found his footing mostly in Westerns before breaking out in the megahit 1970 Robert Altman film “M*A*S*H” as surgeon Duke Forrest.

He went on to appear in various TV shows in the 1970s including “Bonanza” and “Gunsmoke.” He also landed higher-profile film roles including in the Oscar-nominated 1977 movie “The Turning Point” starring Anne Bancroft and Shirley MacLaine.

But it was his role in 1979’s “Alien,” directed by Ridley Scott, that truly expanded Skerritt’s range. In the sci-fi/horror film, Skerritt played Captain Dallas, one of the few who aligns with Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley as their intergalactic shipping crew is faced with a horrible menace.

From there, he won roles in ‘80s films such as “The Dead Zone” and “Top Gun,” the latter of which served as another example of Skerritt’s keen ability to embody characters with a stiff-upper-lip approach and a heart-of-gold persona. In “Top Gun,” he played Viper, a character at first unimpressed with the bravado of Tom Cruise’s character Maverick, soon taking him under his wing.

After a multi-episode arc on “Cheers,” Skerritt appeared as the patriarch in “Steel Magnolias,” the film starring Sally Field, Julia Roberts and Dolly Parton. Skerritt plays husband to Field’s character and father to Roberts’ Shelby, who falls ill toward the end of the film. Fields’ M’Lynn remarks how her husband couldn’t even be in the room when their daughter finally passed away, while she just sat there. “Men are supposed to be made out of steel or something,” she says, in a line that hints at the film’s title.

The 1990s saw Skerritt continue to portray fatherly roles in projects as varied as “A River Runs Through It,” directed by Robert Redford and starring Brad Pitt, and the thriller “Poison Ivy” opposite Drew Barrymore. It was his “River Runs Through It” role as a reverend that saw Skerritt deliver fatherly advice in lines like, “For it is true, we can seldom help those closest to us. Either we don’t know what part of ourselves to give or, more often than not, the part we have to give is not wanted. And so it’s those we live with and should know who elude us. But we can still love them – we can love completely without complete understanding.”

He continued working, both in TV and film, into the new millennium, in shows including “Brothers & Sisters” and “Will & Grace” and features like “Ted” and “A Hologram for the King.” His last credit was in the 2025 film “Broke.”

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汤姆·斯凯里特，这位英俊潇洒、魅力四射的演员，曾出演过《壮志凌云》和《围栏》等众多影视作品，在大银幕和小荧屏上都深受观众喜爱。他已去世，享年93岁。

斯克里特的公关苏珊·马多尔证实了这一消息，她向家人发送了一份声明，详细说明他于周三因自然原因去世。

斯克里特最知名的作品包括电影《异形》和《钢木兰》，以及他在大卫·E·凯利创作的CBS剧集《小镇警长》（Picket Fences）中的主演角色。该剧于1992年至1996年播出，并为他赢得了黄金时段艾美奖最佳男主角奖。在这部黑色喜剧中，斯克里特饰演一位努力维持小镇秩序的年迈警长，巩固了他标志性的沉着权威与亲和力兼具的表演风格。

斯凯里特的银幕生涯可以追溯到 20 世纪 60 年代初，他主要在西部片中崭露头角，之后凭借 1970 年罗伯特·奥特曼执导的超级热门电影《陆军野战医院》（M*A*S*H）中外科医生杜克·福雷斯特一角而一举成名。

20世纪70年代，他出演了多部电视剧，包括《大淘金》（Bonanza）和《荒野大镖客》（Gunsmoke）。他还获得了一些备受瞩目的电影角色，包括在1977年获得奥斯卡提名的电影《转折点》（The Turning Point）中出演角色，该片由安妮·班克罗夫特和雪莉·麦克雷恩主演。

但真正拓展斯凯里特戏路的，是他出演的1979年由雷德利·斯科特执导的《异形》。在这部科幻/恐怖片中，斯凯里特饰演达拉斯船长，他是少数几个与西格妮·韦弗饰演的雷普利并肩作战的人之一，当时他们的星际运输船队正面临着可怕的威胁。

此后，他出演了《死亡地带》和《壮志凌云》等80年代电影，后者再次展现了斯凯里特塑造角色的精湛技艺，他擅长将那些外表冷峻、内心善良的角色演绎得淋漓尽致。在《壮志凌云》中，他饰演的“毒蛇”起初对汤姆·克鲁斯饰演的“独行侠”的豪放不屑一顾，但很快就将他收为己用。

在出演了《欢乐酒店》（Cheers）的多集角色后，斯凯里特在电影《钢木兰》（Steel Magnolias）中饰演一家之主，该片由莎莉·菲尔德、朱莉娅·罗伯茨和多莉·帕顿主演。斯凯里特饰演菲尔德角色的丈夫，也是罗伯茨饰演的谢尔比的父亲，谢尔比在影片结尾病倒。菲尔德饰演的姆琳恩感慨道，当女儿最终离世时，她的丈夫甚至无法待在房间里，而她却只能坐在那里。“男人应该像钢铁一样坚强才对，”她说，这句话暗示了影片的片名。

上世纪90年代，斯凯里特继续在各种类型的影片中扮演父亲角色，例如罗伯特·雷德福执导、布拉德·皮特主演的《大河恋》，以及与德鲁·巴里摩尔合作的惊悚片《毒藤女》。在《大河恋》中，他饰演一位牧师，片中他以父亲般的口吻说道：“的确，我们很少能真正帮助到身边最亲近的人。要么我们不知道该付出什么，要么，更常见的情况是，我们能付出的那部分他们并不想要。所以，那些与我们朝夕相处、本应了解的人，反而让我们难以捉摸。但我们仍然可以爱他们——即使不完全了解，我们也可以全心全意地爱他们。”

进入新千年后，他继续在电视和电影领域工作，参与了《兄弟姐妹》和《威尔与格蕾丝》等电视剧以及《泰迪熊》和《国王的全息图》等电影的拍摄。他最后一部作品是2025年上映的电影《破产姐妹》。