Who was Tom Skerritt? Details explored after veteran actor with roles in Top Gun & Picket Fences dies at 93

Tom Skerritt, the legendary actor best known for his appearance in Top Gun & Picket Fences, has died at the age of 93.

Born Thomas Roy Skerritt on August 25, 1933, in Detroit, Michigan, Skerritt worked in the U.S. Air Force before starting his acting career. His breakthrough came with the release of the 1970 feature M*A*S*H. He continued appearing throughout the 1970s and beyond in Alien, Up in Smoke and Turning Point, among other projects.

According to a report in People magazine, Skerritt’s family confirmed in a statement that he died of natural causes on October 21, 2026, in Seattle. They shared that they are “deeply saddened” by the news. Skerritt was married three times: to Charlotte Shanks, Sue Oran and Julie Tokashiki.

The family statement said that besides acting, Skerritt was known for his “humour, curiosity, wisdom, generosity,” and for the love he brought into the lives of his family and friends.

A detailed view of the late actor Tom Skerritt’s professional life

Tom Skerritt was an actor and director whose career spanned more than six decades and over 170 film and television credits.

Skerritt was born in Detroit as Thomas Roy Skerritt on August 25, 1933, in the Motor City. He was raised by his parents, Roy, a businessman, and Helen, a homemaker, and was the youngest of the three children in the Skerritt family.

Skerritt went to David Mackenzie High School in 1951 and later joined the U.S. Air Force. He served as a classification specialist. During an interview with the Film Comment, Skerritt said:

“There were four or five of us who were having a few beers one night—we must have been 17, just got out of high school—we didn’t know what we were going to do, we were not ready to go to college. We just had a couple of beers, and thought, “We want to travel, we don’t have any money, and we want to get away from here.” And we enlisted the following day, four of us, I think, enlisted at the same time. It was a four-year term.”

Skerritt then returned to his hometown to study English at Wayne State University and later transitioned into writing and directing. He shared that he had some acting experience from his theatre work but never thought of making a living from it. He said:

“I thought I would continue writing and continue acting if I was going to be a director. I happened to be seen as an actor, and I was hired for a little low-budget film, and I thought, hey, this is a great way to learn how to be a director, to be a participant in the actual reality of making a film.”

Speaking about being a filmmaker, Tom Skerritt said you can’t become a filmmaker by going to university alone. He said that practical knowledge and street knowledge also add to the overall experience.

Tom Skerritt’s screen career began with the 1962 Korean War drama War Hunt, opposite a young Robert Redford. He spent much of the 1960s in television guest roles such as Combat!, Gunsmoke, The Virginian, and 12 O’Clock High before his breakthrough in Robert Altman’s M*A*S*H.

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One of Skerritt's most memorable performances was in the hit CBS series Picket Fences, for which he also won a Primetime Emmy Award in 1993. He also won multiple Golden Globe and SAG nominations for the same series.

Tom Skerritt is survived by his wife, Julie Tokashiki; five children, Andy, Erin, Matt, Colin, and Emiko; and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

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