Tom Skerritt, Star of ‘Alien,’ ‘The Dead Zone,’ and ‘Poltergeist III,’ Has Died at 93

Tom Skerritt, the rough-hewn actor who sparkled amid ensembles in M*A*S*H, Alien, and Top Gun before starring as small-town sheriff Jimmy Brock on the quirky 1990s series Picket Fences, has died, reports THR. He was 93.

Skerritt died Wednesday of natural causes, his family announced.

“We are heartbroken by his loss,” they said. “While the world knew Tom through his remarkable acting career, we knew him for his humor, curiosity, wisdom, generosity and the love he brought into our lives. He cared deeply about imagination, creativity, storytelling, service, veterans, the natural world and helping others find and share their own voices.”

For us horror fans, Skerritt will always be remembered for Ridley Scott’s Alien, the Stephen King adaptation The Dead Zone, and, of course, the criminally underrated horror masterpiece Poltergeist III, which is easily one of my favorite horror movies of all time.

Poltergeist III is an unbelievable sequel to the first two films, moving the terror to a Chicago high-rise where Carol Anne is once again tormented by poltergeists. Skerritt plays her uncle, Bruce Gardner, opposite Nancy Allen and Heather O’Rourke. It contains some of the very best special effects I’ve seen from that era and is truly scary. I revisit it every Halloween season.

And as Captain Dallas in Alien, Skerritt was an integral part of the film that launched a franchise still thriving today. His work helped make the Nostromo’s crew feel like real people, which made what happened to them all the more terrifying.

He will be missed. We send our thoughts and prayers to his surviving family and friends.