Tom Skerritt, Alien, Steel Magnolias and Top Gun star, dies aged 93

Tom Skerritt, who was best known for roles in Top Gun, Alien and Steel Magnolias, has died at the age of 93, his family has confirmed.

The actor died of natural causes on Wednesday (22 October), according to a statement from his family.

The statement read: "While the world knew Tom through his remarkable acting career, we knew him for his humour, curiosity, wisdom, generosity and the love he brought into our lives."

It continued: “He cared deeply about imagination, creativity, storytelling, service, veterans, the natural world and helping others find and share their own voices.”

The actor enjoyed a career spanning from the 1960s to the 2020s, playing Captain Dallas in Alien, Viper in Top Gun and Sally Field's husband in Steel Magnolias.

Other career highlights included appearances in Contact alongside Jodie Foster, and in Turning Point as Shirley MacLaine.

Meanwhile, onstage he appeared in Our Town at Seattle’s Intiman Theatre in 2004 and in the 2013 Broadway stage adaptation of John Grisham's novel A Time to Kill.

He was nominated for an Emmy twice, both times for Picket Fences, and won outstanding lead actor in a drama series in 1993.

Born in Detroit, Skerritt served in the Air Force before attending the University of California, Los Angeles, to study filmmaking. There, he turned to theatre, starring in a Los Angeles theatre production of The Rainmaker.

This led to his first film role alongside a young Robert Redford in the 1962 independent Korean War film War Hunt.

His breakthrough role came in Robert Altman's 1970 Korean War black comedy M*A*S*H, in which he played a US army surgeon. The film was nominated for five Academy Awards.

He also appeared in TV series including My Three Sons, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Wagon Train and The Fugitive in the 1960s, and in the likes of Hawaii Five-O and Barnaby Jones and Baretta the following decade.

In 2012, Skerritt co-founded The Red Badge Project, a programme for veterans which connects veterans with professional authors and lets them share their own stories

He is survived by wife, Julie Tokashiki, and his five children.

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Molly Moss is a Trends Writer for Radio Times, covering the latest trends across TV, film and more. She has an MA in Newspaper Journalism and has previously written for publications including The Guardian, The Times and The Sun Online.