Actor Tom Skerritt dies at 93

Tom Skerritt, the actor known for Alien, Top Gun and his Emmy-winning performance in Picket Fences, has died at 93. He died Wednesday of natural causes, his publicist confirmed to Variety. His family also confirmed his death to Deadline.

His screen career spanned more than 60 years. Often cast in supporting film roles, Skerritt also became a television lead as Sheriff Jimmy Brock in Picket Fences.

From M*A*S*H to Alien and Top Gun

Skerritt made his feature-film debut in the Korean War drama War Hunt in 1962 and appeared in television westerns including Gunsmoke. In the 1970 film M*A*S*H, he played Captain Augustus Bedford “Duke” Forrest, one of its military surgeons.

In Alien (1979), Skerritt played Dallas, captain of the spaceship Nostromo. Top Gun (1986) gave him another command role: Commander Mike “Viper” Metcalf, the chief instructor at a fighter-pilot school.

His later films included A River Runs Through It (1992), in which he played a Presbyterian minister and father of two sons whose family came together through fly fishing.

An Emmy-winning television lead

Skerritt starred in Picket Fences from 1992 to 1996, playing the sheriff of an eccentric small town in a series that mixed drama and comedy. The role earned him an Emmy in 1993 and another nomination in 1994.

He continued working across television, appearing as a senator in The West Wing and recurring as family patriarch William Walker in Brothers & Sisters from 2006 to 2009. His later guest appearances included The Good Wife in 2014 and Madam Secretary in 2015.