Tom Skerritt, the Emmy‑winning actor best known for Top Gun and Alien who later co-founded a storytelling programme to help US military veterans living with post‑traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), has died aged 93.

His family said he died of natural causes on Wednesday 21 October and confirmed his death on Thursday. In a statement, they said the world knew him as an actor, but they knew a man of humour, curiosity, wisdom and generosity. They added that he cared deeply about storytelling, service, veterans and the natural world.

Skerritt's screen career spanned more than 60 years, but in later life he put equal energy into the Red Badge Project, a non‑profit organisation that helps veterans write about their experiences.

Helping Veterans Find Their Voice

Skerritt, who served four years in the US Air Force, co-founded the Red Badge Project with Evan Baily, who had served in Iraq and Afghanistan. The organisation says its classes support veterans coping with invisible wounds such as PTSD, anxiety and depression by helping them to write and share their own stories.

Classes run in partnership with veterans' centres in several Washington State cities, including Walla Walla. Early sessions were held at Joint Base Lewis‑McChord for soldiers recovering from injury and preparing to return to civilian life. Skerritt was a regular visitor and sometimes acted in scripts written by participants.

CBS News reported that more than a thousand veterans had taken part. Skerritt told the broadcaster the work began with wanting to help someone else rather than simply talking about the problem. A Vietnam War medic who attended told CBS that veterans felt safe sharing things there that they might not have told anyone else.

Red Badge is a creative writing programme rather than a clinical treatment, and Skerritt was open about the fact that his role was to help people tell their stories.

Read more

From 'MAS*H' to 'Top Gun'

Born in Detroit on 25 August 1933, Skerritt went to Hollywood after leaving the Air Force, intending to become a director. He studied at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and made his screen debut in the 1962 Korean War film War Hunt.

He appeared as Duke Forrest in Robert Altman's 1970 film MASH* and played Dallas, the doomed captain of the Nostromo, in Ridley Scott's Alien in 1979. In the 1986 blockbuster Top Gun he was Commander Mike 'Viper' Metcalf, flight instructor to Tom Cruise's character. His other films included Steel Magnolias, Contact and A River Runs Through It.

On television, he played Sheriff Jimmy Brock in David E Kelley's drama Picket Fences, which ran from 1992 to 1996. He won the 1993 Emmy for outstanding lead actor in a drama series and was nominated again in 1994.

Later roles included William Walker in Brothers & Sisters, and guest appearances in The West Wing, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Madam Secretary. In 2016 he also started Heyou Media, a Seattle‑based digital entertainment company.

Skerritt is survived by his wife, Julie, five children, five grandchildren and two great‑grandchildren.

Read more