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Tom Skerritt, actor in Alien and Top Gun, dies at 93
Emmy-winning actor Tom Skerritt, known for Picket Fences, Alien and Top Gun, has died at 93.
Tom Skerritt, the Emmy-winning actor whose work included the television series Picket Fences and the films Alien and Top Gun, has died at the age of 93.
His family said in a statement that he died Wednesday, local time, of natural causes.
Skerritt spent four years in the Air Force. He attended Wayne State University, then transferred to the University of California, Los Angeles, to study filmmaking after being inspired by Citizen Kane.
A performance in a Los Angeles stage production of The Rainmaker led to his first film role. He played a sergeant in War Hunt, a Korean War film released in 1962.
In Alien, one of his best-known roles, Skerritt played the doomed captain of the ship Nostromo.
After his performance in Alien, he was cast in Top Gun as the instructor of Tom Cruise's character.