Tom Skerritt Alien (1979)
Tom Skerritt (born August 25, 1933, Detroit, Michigan) played Captain Arthur Dallas in Alien (1979). He was the only cast member who had star-level visibility going into the production, which is why the film's marketing pushed him to the top of the bill.
Skerritt was the recognizable face who let the audience think he was the hero
When Alien opened, Skerritt's name was the largest on the poster. He had been working steadily in features since 1962 and had built recognition through MASH* (1970), Big Bad Mama (1974), and The Turning Point (1977). For audiences in 1979, Skerritt's face read as a leading man's face — which was exactly the misdirection the producers wanted. Dallas had to look like the protagonist so that his death in the air shafts could land as a structural shock. (wikipedia, imdb)
He played Dallas as a working captain, not a heroic one
Skerritt's Dallas is not a Captain Kirk. He is a foreman of a long-haul trucking rig in space — a man who runs a commercial operation and gets paid by the contract. He lights cigarettes on the bridge. He defers to the science officer when the science officer says the company wants the alien preserved. He goes into the air shafts because someone has to and he is the captain.
"He defers to the Company, follows orders, and makes reasonable decisions that happen to be wrong." — From Cast and Characters (Alien)
The performance is built on small physical choices: a shuffle, a slight stoop, a tendency to speak softly when authority would normally demand volume. Dallas is exhausted before the alien even appears. By the time he picks up the flamethrower, his fatigue has already done most of the audience's work.
Skerritt had passed on Alien once before and accepted the second time around
Skerritt had been offered an earlier draft of the script and declined. When the project came back to him after Scott's hire, the script had been revised by Walter Hill and David Giler, the budget had increased, and the role of Dallas had been sharpened. He took it. The decision to deliver Dallas in a low-key register — rather than as an action hero — was Skerritt's, and it shaped the film's tonal foundation. (imdb)
His career before and after Alien
| Year | Film | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1962 | War Hunt | Feature debut alongside Robert Redford |
| 1970 | MASH* | Captain Duke Forrest |
| 1974 | Big Bad Mama | Roger Corman drive-in classic |
| 1977 | The Turning Point | Major studio drama |
| 1979 | Alien | Captain Dallas |
| 1981 | Silence of the North | Canadian wilderness drama |
| 1983 | The Dead Zone | Cronenberg / King adaptation |
| 1986 | Top Gun | Viper, the flight school commander |
| 1989 | Steel Magnolias | Drum Eatenton |
| 1992–95 | Picket Fences | Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama |
| 2010s–20s | Cherry Falls, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, East of the Mountains | Continued character work |
Skerritt won the Emmy for Picket Fences in 1993. Top Gun (1986) reintroduced him to a generation who had not seen Alien. He has continued working into his nineties, often in roles that lean on the same quiet authority he gave Dallas.
The chestburster scene is the one he talks about
Skerritt was at the table with the rest of the cast for the chestburster sequence. Like the others, he had not been told the specifics of how the prosthetic would work or how much blood would be involved. His reaction in the finished film — a flinch, a half-rise from his chair — is genuine. In the years since, Skerritt has consistently identified the scene as the most memorable single day of his career.