Tom Skerritt, 1933 – 2026

Movie and TV actor Tom Skerritt, 93, died on Oct. 21. Skerritt starred in the offbeat 1990s TV drama Picket Fences, and costarred in such films as Alien, M*A*S*H, The Turning Point, Ice Castles, The Dead Zone, Top Gun, Steel Magnolias, and A River Runs Through It. The Air Force veteran began acting in the early 1960s, and with his tall, squinty-eyed good looks, was soon a regular presence on the small and big screens: The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, My Favorite Martian, Mannix, Death Valley Days, Medical Center, Harold and Maude, The Devil’s Rain, Up in Smoke, Cheers, Will & Grace, The West Wing, Madame Secretary, and countless others. “I have been in some pretty damn good films,” Skerritt said. “What it comes down to is what someone told me years ago – if you have one hit and the next two are not successful, then you have to start from scratch again. That's what happened to me. It's like a game, I suppose, and I've been doing OK.”