The actor who turned down the captain’s chair aboard the Nostromo, then took it and got top billing over Sigourney Weaver, built a career of more than six decades on roles like it.

Tom Skerritt, the Emmy-winning actor known for “Top Gun,” “M*A*S*H” and the CBS drama “Picket Fences,” died of natural causes on Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026, at 93. His publicist confirmed the death.

“We ask for privacy as our family grieves. Information regarding a memorial will be shared at a later date,” the family said in the statement. The family also said, “We are heartbroken by his loss,” and described him in terms of his humor, curiosity, wisdom and generosity.

In a tribute, the family said, “Tom will be remembered not only for the characters he brought to life, but also for his belief that stories can help people heal, find purpose, and create change.” They added, “His talent, integrity, curiosity, and compassion made a lasting impact on his family, his profession, and the many communities he worked to support.”

“A shining light of a gentle man”

Julia Roberts, who played Skerritt’s on-screen daughter in “Steel Magnolias,” posted a still from the film on Instagram with the caption: “A shining light of a gentle man. RIP.”

Lauren Holly, his “Picket Fences” co-star, wrote alongside a photo of herself with Skerritt: “He had a huge impact on my life, and so many memories I have of him include sharing fits of crippling laughter. Rest easy my friend. I will think of you often.”

Kathy Baker, who played Skerritt’s wife on the same series, said, “He taught me so much during our four years on Picket Fences.”

The Captain He First Refused

Skerritt initially turned down “Alien,” then a $2 million project with no director attached, and the role he refused was Capt. Dallas of the Nostromo. He later accepted and took top billing as the doomed captain, ahead of Sigourney Weaver. Ridley Scott’s 1979 film earned two Oscar nominations and spawned a franchise of sequels, prequels and spin-offs.

Seven years after “Alien,” director Tony Scott cast him in the 1986 blockbuster “Top Gun” as Cmdr. Mike “Viper” Metcalf, the chief instructor at Miramar Naval Air Station’s top gun school, where Tom Cruise’s Maverick trains.

He made his film debut in the 1962 war drama “War Hunt,” alongside Robert Redford and Sydney Pollack. His breakthrough came in Robert Altman’s 1970 satire “M*A*S*H,” where he played Capt. Augustus “Duke” Forrest, one of the insubordinate Army surgeons. The billing put him third, trailing Donald Sutherland and Elliott Gould while preceding Sally Kellerman and Robert Duvall. Voters gave the picture five Academy Award nominations, best picture among them, and a television adaptation followed two years later.

Skerritt won the National Board of Review’s best supporting actor award for Herbert Ross’ 1977 ballet drama “The Turning Point,” in which he played Shirley MacLaine’s husband. He played Sally Field’s husband in 1989’s “Steel Magnolias,” with Julia Roberts and Dolly Parton, and the Presbyterian minister father to Brad Pitt and Craig Sheffer in Redford’s 1992 film “A River Runs Through It.” In “Contact,” he played David Drumlin, the scheming opportunist blocking Jodie Foster.

His other credits include a bit part as a motorcycle cop in “Harold and Maude,” Altman’s “Thieves Like Us,” “Big Bad Mama,” “The Devil’s Rain” with Ernest Borgnine and William Shatner, Strawberry in “Up in Smoke,” David Cronenberg’s “The Dead Zone,” “SpaceCamp,” “Poltergeist III,” “Poison Ivy” and “Tears of the Sun.” He appeared as himself in Seth MacFarlane’s 2012 comedy “Ted.” His last film role came in the 2025 western drama “Broke,” opposite Dennis Quaid.

Sheriff Jimmy Brock Wins the Emmy

Skerritt’s most decorated part was Sheriff Jimmy Brock on David E. Kelley’s “Picket Fences,” which ran four seasons from 1992 to 1996. The role brought him the Primetime Emmy for outstanding lead actor in a drama series, at the 45th Primetime Emmy Awards in September 1993. Kathy Baker won for lead actress the same year.

He was nominated again in 1994. He shared Screen Actors Guild ensemble nominations in 1995 and 1996, and he picked up a SAG nomination for male actor in a drama series in 1995.

Television kept him busy well beyond the series. He played Evan Drake, Rebecca Howe’s boss, in a six-episode stint on “Cheers,” guest starred as a senator on “The West Wing” and as a biased judge on “Law & Order: SVU,” and played the father of Hank Azaria’s title character on HBO’s “Huff,” replacing Robert Forster. He turned up on “Will & Grace” in the 2000s, recurred as patriarch William Walker on ABC’s “Brothers & Sisters,” and appeared on “The Good Wife” in 2014 and “Madam Secretary” in 2015.

He made his Broadway debut in 2013 in an adaptation of John Grisham’s “A Time to Kill.” Nine years earlier, he had narrated “Our Town” at Seattle’s Intiman Theater.

A Character Actor in a Leading Man’s Body

Skerritt was born Aug. 25, 1933, in Detroit, and served a four-year tour of duty in the U.S. Air Force before pursuing acting work. He amassed more than 170 big- and small-screen credits, bringing a lean, mustachioed authority to his best-known titles.

“A writer once described me as a character actor locked in a leading man’s body, and I’ve always loved that,” he told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer in 1997.

Seattle served as the base for his off-camera work. TheFilmSchool, which he helped found in the city, backs the next generation of filmmakers and storytellers, and the Red Badge Project, which he co-founded, helps veterans work through PTSD, anxiety and depression by writing and sharing their experiences. He championed river conservation, a passion that grew in part out of filming “A River Runs Through It,” and was featured in the documentary “Reflections of the River.”

His wife, Julie Tokashiki, his third wife, survives him, along with his children, Andy, Erin, Matt, Collin and Emiko. He also leaves five grandchildren — Sara, Maddison, Sunny, Louisa and Georgia — and two great-grandchildren, Marigold and Ravi.