starred

US actor Tom Skerritt, who starred in the TV series Picket Fences, and the films Alien and Top Gun, has died aged 93, his family says.

Skerritt died on Wednesday of natural causes, his family 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.”

In a six-decade career, he took on film and television roles, appearing in the film Mash, A River Runs Through It and Ted. He also co-founded TheFilmSchool in Seattle to support next-generation filmmakers and storytellers.

His family said he will be remembered “for his belief that stories can help people heal, find purpose, and create change.”

The mustachioed star of several 20th century hit films was born on 25 August 1933 in Detroit, Michigan, and served in the US Air Force before pursuing an acting career that boasted several military roles.

He made his film debut in 1962 alongside a young Robert Redford ​in War Hunt and years later re-teamed with Redford in the 1992 period drama A River Runs Through It, which starred Brad Pitt.

Skerritt’s breakthrough role came when he played US army surgeon Duke Forrest in the 1970 Korean War comedy Mash, which also starred Donald Sutherland, Elliott Gould and Sally Kellerman.

The hit film, which was released amid unrest over the Vietnam War, was nominated for five Academy Awards and was adapted for television two years later.

He also starred alongside Sigourney Weaver in the 1979 sci-fi film Alien, which earned two Oscar nominations, and led to three sequels and several crossover projects.

“It is spontaneity and impulse ​that make the difference, and that is ⁠what I felt we had with ‘Alien,'” Skerritt said in a 2019 interview, according to Reuters news agency.

“Every one of us had that immediate rapport with each other.”

Skerritt said that one of the things he liked most when he first read the script was that “the woman becomes a hero”, referring to Weaver’s character, Ripley.

During his career, he starred opposite several strong female leads.

He appeared with Shirley MacLaine in the 1977 film Turning Point and played Sally Field’s husband in 1989’s Steel Magnolias.

As Commander Mike “Viper” Metcalf in the 1986 classic Top Gun, the versatile actor appeared alongside a young Tom Cruise in the blockbuster.

On television, he won an Emmy Award in 1993 for his role as Sheriff Jimmy Brock in David E Kelley’s drama Picket Fences.

The procedural’s ensemble cast was nominated for SAG Awards in 1995 and 1996, and he received a nod for male actor in a drama series in 1995.

Skerritt also had guest roles on the small screen in The West Wing, Madam Secretary, Law & Order: SVU and Huff. He reteamed with Field as the family patriarch, William Walker, in the drama Brothers & Sisters from 2007-09.

He had a six-episode stint on Cheers playing Rebecca Howe’s crush-worthy boss Evan Drake.

In a statement, Skerritt’s family said that he leaves behind a “legacy that reaches far beyond the screen”

A deep believer in the power of storytelling, Skerritt helped found the TheFilmSchool in Seattle and co-founded the Red Badge Project, which helps veterans work through PTSD, anxiety and depression by writing and sharing their experiences.

Inspired in part by his experience filming A River Runs Through It, he also believed in protecting the natural world.

He created the documentary series Reflections of the River about America’s rivers and supported river conservation.

Dragons showed tenacity in defence before securing a hard-fought win against Perpignan in Newport on Friday.

Filo Tiatia’s men have made a strong start to the season but that might not necessarily translate into a bigger contingent in Tandy’s squad.

Lock Ben Carter is a shoo-in, tight-head prop Dillon Lewis will hope to pick up where he left off in the summer and in-form hooker Elliot Dee would love to battle Dewi Lake and Ryan Elias for action.

The Perpignan fixture highlighted the qualities of Dragons’ grafters with blind-side flanker Shane Lewis-Hughes, who won three caps in 2020, continuing his strong start to the season.

Wales contact coach Dan Lydiate was a guest at Dragons training last week and would have been impressed as Lewis-Hughes put in 27 tackles against the French side’s big carriers.

But the forward, like team-mate Harri Keddie, is competing in a position of real depth.

The same applies for wing Rio Dyer, who is yet to score this season but has been lively with ball in hand and impressive in the aerial game.

Dragons’ man of the match against Perpignan was Aneurin Owen, so often the side’s glue from inside centre.

He carried strongly to go with his distribution skills, while he was strong in defence and came up with two turnovers.

Owen, who turns 26 the day before Tuesday’s squad announcement, was a member of the Wales squad under Wayne Pivac in the summer of 2021 but remains uncapped.

There might be an opening at 12 due to Ben Thomas’ injury should Tandy look to see if a quality operator at club level can take the next step.

“Aneurin knows I love him,” said Dragons boss Filo Tiatia. “He has outstanding leadership and there is lots more to come from him.

“He wants to improve, is coachable and is strong at challenging the coaches.”

It was 41 years ago in April of 1987 as a 28-year-old sportswriter that I was given one of my favorite assignments.

From LAX, I flew to Indianapolis, rented a car and drove one hour to Bloomington, Ind., home of the NCAA basketball champion Indiana Hoosiers. My most vivid memory was nervously driving on Route 37 with no GPS guiding me and seeing the many varieties of basketball hoops hanging on farm houses and family homes, providing powerful evidence that all the stereotypes about the state’s love for basketball were true.

This was months after the best selling book, “A Season on the Brink,” was published. And a month after coach Bob Knight and Indiana won their fifth NCAA basketball championship.

My assignment was to check in with Glendale native Joe Hillman, a 1984 Hoover High graduate who was Knight’s first recruit from west of the Mississippi River. Hillman averaged 41.3 points his senior year at Hoover He ended up being a reserve guard behind Steve Alford and Keith Smart on the 1987 NCAA championship team, so it was perfect timing.

He also continued to play baseball and was a 25th-round draft pick of the Oakland Athletics in 1986.

Fast forward to Tuesday at the YMCA in La Cañada Flintridge. The guest speaker for the Glendale Quarterback Club was Hillman. It was the first time seeing him since my trip to Indiana. Now 60 and living outside of Indianapolis, Hillman was asked tough questions.

1984 All-CIF basketball team.

(1984 Foundation)

Can you still hit?

“I can still do that.”

Can you still make free throws?

“I don’t know about that.”

How come you never went into coaching?

“I wouldn’t have been patient enough.”

How did Knight convince you to go to Indiana?

“We don’t have this in Indiana,” Knight told him during a visit to Santa Anita while looking out at the San Gabriel Mountains. “Why would a California kid come to Indiana?”

Hillman: “I want to play on a national championship team.”

Any Knight stories to tell?

“I don’t know if you can put them in a paper.”

Years later, when talking to other players, Hillman said, “There was a method to his madness. They all had the same stories with different names.”

Indiana’s Daryl Thomas (24) and Joe Hillman (44) victorious during interview with CBS announcers Billy Packer (L) and Brent Musberger (R) in 1987.

(Manny Millan/Sports Illustrated via Getty Imaages)

Among the Knight truths: Players who practiced best always got to play. The best players always got the most heat from him. Anyone who graduated from Indiana received his total loyalty.

Hillman remembers calling Knight eight years after graduation seeking a phone number to reach a Reebok executive to inquire about a job. Knight ended up telling the executive he’d drop Adidas shoe contract for Reebok if Hillman were hired. Hillman didn’t get the job but learned what Knight would do for any player who got his degree.

“He was the most honest, most blunt coach,” Hillman said.

Asked why he chose to be subjected to such harsh criticism for four years, Hillman said, “My father was on me from the time of T-ball. He said constructive criticism was good.”

Comparing today’s college sports environment of NIL deals with the 1980s, Hillman said, “It would have been scary what kind of money we could have gotten.”

Hillman expressed disappointment at the lack of multiple-sport athletes today in high school sports. He said even Knight appreciated and supported his option to keep playing baseball.

Looking back on that trip from 1987, I re-read my observations: “The four-lane highway that stretches from Indianapolis to Bloomington is virtually deserted as darkness begins to descend over the lush, green countryside. The temperature is in the 50s, and the sky is overcast after three straight days of damp weather. The picturesque Midwestern landscape is immaculate, but equally alluring are the distinctive basketball hoops found among the farms and family homes along Route 37. Hoops are everywhere — on barns, rooftops, telephone poles, even next to power transformers.”

I remember getting lost in a forest trying to find where Hillman was living in a townhouse.

I wrote: “After finding the correct street, the quickest way to locate an Indiana basketball player’s residence is to ask a young fan. Shooting baskets by himself on a court not far away was a 12-year-old.

“Do you know where Joe Hillman lives?”

“Sure,” the youngster says.

Those were the days.