Skerritt died Wednesday of natural causes, his family said in a statement. 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. He cared deeply about imagination, creativity, storytelling, service, veterans, the natural world and helping others find and share their own voices,” the statement said.
Skerritt was twice nominated for an Emmy — both for "Picket Fences," winning outstanding lead actor in a drama series in 1993. Other career highlights include playing the patient husband of Shirley MacLaine in "Turning Point," Sally Field's husband in "Steel Magnolias" and a scheming opportunist who stands in the way of Jodie Foster's attempt to communicate with extraterrestrial life in "Contact."
Skerritt born in Detroit in a middle-class family, his father a small businessman and his mother a housewife. He had two brothers; a sister died as a child. He spent four years in the Air Force, attended Wayne State University and then switched to the University of California, Los Angeles, to study filmmaking, inspired by a viewing of "Citizen Kane."
His performance in a Los Angeles theater production of "The Rainmaker" led to his first film role — a supporting role as a sergeant in the 1962 scrappy, $250,000 independent Korean War film "War Hunt." The movie marked the debuts of Skerritt, Robert Redford, Sydney Pollack and Francis Ford Coppola.
Indeed, Redford and Skerritt were looking for the same lead role, with Redford winning out. Years later, Redford, now directing, paid Skerritt back with compound interest in "A River Runs Through It," handing him the plum role of the stern Rev. John Maclean, a minister whose governing passions are his faith and fly-fishing. The New York Times was impressed by his halting, thoughtful manner.
Despite "War Hunt," success, Skerritt still struggled for screen time, landing a small role in "M.A.S.H." and "Thieves Like Us" for Robert Altman, and doing a bit part as a motorcycle cop in "Harold and Maude" for Hal Ashby. Things changed with "The Turning Point," which earned him a National Board of Review win.
Then came "Alien," with Skerritt playing the beleaguered and doomed captain of the ship Nostromo, crouched in a dark, claustrophobic duct, hunting the alien with a sputtering flamethrower. He told the Seattle Times that what appealed to him in the script was that the lead actor disappeared and the woman becomes the hero. I really like that idea. Tings shifted again after that, including a memorable role as Tom Cruise's instructor in the landmark "Top Gun" following the quote: "Gentlemen, you are the top 1% of all Naval aviators. The elite. The best of the best. We'll make you better," he told the students.
Perhaps Skerritt's most successful role came as the kindly sheriff in "Picket Fences," a comedy created by David E. Kelley that won 14 Emmy Awards — one for Skerritt — and a Golden Globe over its four-year run from 1992 to 1996. Skerritt co-starred opposite Kathy Baker, playing his doctor wife in the community of Rome, Wisconsin, a place with bizarre happenings, like having a robber leaving a trail of frogs or the pope becoming the primary witness to a murder.
Also on the small screen, Skerritt played William Walker on ABC's "Brothers and Sisters," Jimmy Ford on TNT's "Leverage" and he had the recurring character Evan Drake on "Cheers." He starred in the Hallmark movie "What the Deaf Man Heard," co-starring Matthew Modine, Judith Ivey and James Earl Jones.
He is survived by his third wife, Julie Tokashiki, and five children
