Tom Skerritt, star of ‘Alien’ and ‘Top Gun,’ dies at 93

Tom Skerritt, who won an Emmy playing a hard-working sheriff in “Picket Fences” and also appeared in hit Hollywood movies like “Top Gun” and “Alien,” has died, his family confirmed Thursday. He was 93.

Skerritt died Wednesday of natural causes, his family said in a statement provided to NBC News.

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

Born Aug. 25, 1933, in Detroit, Skerritt landed in Hollywood after serving four years in the U.S. Air Force.

His breakthrough role was playing Captain Duke Forrest in Robert Altman’s 1970 satirical war movie “M*A*S*H.”

That led to starring roles in a string of successful movies like “The Turning Point,” “Up in Smoke,” “The Dead Zone” and “Steel Magnolias.”

But Skerritt was best known to moviegoers as Tom Cruise’s no-nonsense flight instructor in “Top Gun” and the doomed Captain Dallas in the 1979 science-fiction thriller “Alien.”