Tom Skerritt, Captain Dallas of "Alien", Dies at 93

Tom Skerritt, the American actor who played Captain Arthur Dallas in Ridley Scott's original Alien, died of natural causes on 21 October at the age of 93; his family disclosed the death only on Thursday. Skerritt built a more than fifty-year career as a character actor, the kind of supporting performer whose name may be hard to recall but whose face is instantly familiar. He worked with Clint Eastwood, Robert Altman, Blake Edwards and David Cronenberg, and his notable roles included Captain Augustus Bedford "Duke" Forrest in M*A*S*H (1970), cowboy John Buckman in Uomini selvaggi (1971), Sheriff Bannerman in La zona morta (1983) and aviator Mike "Viper" Metcalf in Top Gun (1986). Ridley Scott drew the most from him, casting him in one of the key parts of Alien in 1979, a film that became a cult classic within a few years. Skerritt also appeared in several television series.