Tom Skerritt

UCLA alumnus Tom Skerritt, winner of the Emmy for Best Actor for his starring role in CBS’s Emmy-winning drama series, Picket Fences (1992-96), is one of the most versatile and acclaimed of American actors on both the big and small screen. Most recently notable for the playing William Walker on ABC’s Brothers and Sisters and Jimmy Ford on TNT’s Leverage, Skerrit’s career on screen spans nearly six decades.

In High Noon for TBS, Skerritt reprised the Gary Cooper role of the sheriff, forced to choose between his duty and his new bride. He also filmed the CBS mini-series Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis: A Life, playing Joseph Kennedy as well as Lifetime’s American Daughter and CBS’s mini-series, Aftershock. From his early role in Robert Altman’s classic comedy, M*A*S*H, to a roster of films which includes, The Turning Point, Alien, A River Runs Through It, Steel Magnolias, Top Gun, Contact and The Other Sister, his work continues to be a study in the strength of subtlety in an array of television and film productions.

Skerritt’s 1997 TV project, the Emmy nominated CBS/Hallmark Hall of Fame movie, What the Deaf Man Heard, co-starring Matthew Modine, Judith Ivy and James Earl Jones, broke all viewing records for Hallmark. With Divided by Hate for the USA network, he managed to juggle directing and acting simultaneously when he starred as the leader of a controversial religious cult. Skerritt had also directed several episodes of Picket Fences, while starring as Sheriff Jimmy Brock, including one that featured his son Matt. His first directing was an earlier ABC-TV after school special, A Question of Sex, which dealt with the issue of disseminating birth control information on high school campuses.

Born in Detroit, Skerritt studied at Wayne State University and at UCLA. Originally interested in directing, he was performing in a Los Angeles theater production, which led to his being cast in his first film, War Hung.

Through the years, his roles run the gamut from comedy, science fiction, Western and thrillers to psychological dramas, romance and murder mystery. In the television medium, Skerritt has starred in literally dozens of television productions. They include guest appearances in several major series, including a highly acclaimed six-episode stint on Cheers as Kirstie Alley’s boss. He has also starred in thrillers including The China Lake Murders, The Heist and Red King, White Knight; touching dramas such as the NBC mini-series Hung for the Unicorn Killer, based on the true story about the Ira Einhorn case, Miles to Go with Jill Clayburgh, Poker Alice, with Elizabeth Taylor, Child in the Night with Jobeth Williams and Getting Up and Going Home with Blythe Danner, Julianne Phillips and Roma Downey; and historical dramas such as Two for Texas with Kris Kristofferson for TNT.

Over the years, Skerritt declined numerous TV series offers, but finally agreed to star in Picket Fences. The opportunity of working with creator David E. Kelley and co-star Kathy Baker proved to be too much of a temptation for him, even though it meant living and working away from his home in Seattle.

Seeing Skerritt in Top Gun convinced the Marciano brothers, owners of Guess? jeans, to fashion several spectacularly successful advertising campaigns around Skerritt’s Hemingway-esque good looks, highlighting him as their first celebrity model. Since then Skerritt has made a few rare forays into the television commercial area.

In an equally rare theater appearance, Skerritt co-starred with Lee Remick in the Los Angeles theatrical production of Love Letters, marking Remick’s last appearance before her death. He has also re-teamed with Picket Fences co-star Kathy Baker for several charity performances of Love Letters, including one to benefit the Laguna Art Museum.

Another important involvement for Skerritt is his restaurant and microbrewery, The Spur, in Crested Butte, Colo. A portion of the proceeds of the operation’s profits as well as the annual Red Lady Open golf tournament, help to benefit Crested Butte’s Adaptive Sports Center, aiding spinal trauma rehabilitation and research. Although heavy work demands do not leave much time to spare, Skerritt tries to indulge in his favorite creative hobby, painting, in his Seattle residence.