--- title: "10 questions with Hollywood icon and Air Force veteran Tom Skerritt" description: "You may know Tom Skerritt for his iconic roles (Viper in Top Gun, anyone?) or his tell-tale mustache. But did you know he is an Air Force veteran?" date: "2020-11-23" modified: "2020-11-23" authors: - name: "Joel Searls" job_title: "Contributor, Marine Corps Veteran" link: "https://www.wearethemighty.com/authors/joelsearls.md" url: "https://www.wearethemighty.com/mighty-movies/tom-skerritt-hollywood-usaf-vet/" categories: - "Entertainment" - "Movies and TV" --- # 10 questions with Hollywood icon and Air Force veteran Tom Skerritt ![Tom Skerritt]() *U.S. Air Force veteran and actor Tom Skerritt died October 21, 2026, at the age of 93. (Daniel Boczarski/Getty Images)* You may know Tom Skerritt for his myriad roles in popular movies (Viper in “Top Gun,” anyone?) or his distinctive mustache. But did you know he is an [Air Force]() veteran? We Are The Mighty sat down with Skerritt to learn more about his childhood, his work ethic, and his time in service. His answers were edited for clarity: ### 1. Can You Share About Your Family and Your Life Growing Up? ![Tom Skerritt]() *Tom Skerritt in a scene from 'Top Gun.' (Paramount Pictures)* “My parents suffered through the Depression and lost quite a bit through it. I was born toward the end of the Depression, and we had hard times and lived in Detroit. Detroit was a Depression-ridden city; I didn’t know the differences as a kid. I thought it was how life is. **Also Read:** [**Hollywood legend and Air Force vet Tom Skerritt dies at 93**]() **“**My school had creative programs where we were in public schools growing up. We had dance, shop, painting, and similar programs. One Saturday morning a month, a school bus would take us to creative venues, and I remember getting off the bus in front of the Detroit Institute of Arts. The first thing I see is Rodin’s ‘The Thinker’ in front of the museum. I was about 7 or 8 years old then and am thinking, ‘Naked guy, sitting on the toilet without the sports section.’ “We go into the museum and see a bronze plaque with a Shakespeare phrase, ‘There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.’ It stands as a distinct memory because the teacher had us write these things down, so it sticks with me. I then remember seeing a painting at the museum by Diego Rivera that was just so powerful. I had not seen anything like that so full of opinion, feeling, talent, and genius. “The next time was a Saturday morning where they took us to a rehearsal for a concert to be done that night. We were sitting in the hall and out came this guest conductor. He was Arturo Toscanini, who was a great conductor of the 20th century. He was very old and physically in bad shape. He was dressed in white, and his hair was shooting off in every direction like Albert Einstein. He looked like a white angel. He raised the baton, and physically he became 30 years old. He straightened out and came alive like a ballerina conducting this orchestra. The sound of it was unbelievable, and he was yelling at them in Italian throughout the rehearsal. “These two moments compelled me by knowing there was another world out there beyond the common neighborhood I grew up in. It stayed with me: to know there is something more to this life than the Depression.” ### 2. Why Did You Join the Air Force? ![Tom Skerritt]() *Tom Skerritt (left forefront) appeared with Sigourney Weaver in the 1979 movie 'Alien.' (20th Century Fox)* “My father instructed me to get a trade after high school and nothing really registered to me, so I enlisted in the Air Force. I knew I needed direction and discipline. I needed something to accept as progress. I thought I could learn to fly… what did I know at 17? My older brother was a P-51 Mustang pilot in [World War II]() so there was a dream there to do something bigger. I was very proud of my older brother; he was more like a father than my father could be. The Air Force gave me a purpose. I learned so much about the country by just being in the Air Force. It is a wonderful frame of reference that informs my intelligence and how I look at life. “The Air Force was about me taking in where I was. My duty station was Bergstrom Air Force Base, which is now closed. I got a lot out of living close to Austin, Texas. They offered me a promotion if I reenlisted, but after service for four years in the Air Force, I used the GI Bill to go to UCLA. At that time, UCLA was affordable where it was about $150 a year to study there. The GI Bill basically helped me pay the rent. I could go over to the West LA VA center for anything else I needed. “LA in the 1960s was laid back, easy, and was nice then. I look back at LA with a great favor and what it gave me from going to school, learning to write, act and direct, and the career I have. It makes me so damn appreciative of all it. The military was good for me, and I hope I was good for it. “I went to the university and studied English. The previous experiences with creative endeavors pushed more toward doing something creative. My other older brother used to play music for me as well when we were growing up, especially when our parents were out. My brother introduced me to classical music and jazz like Charlie Parker and Billie Holliday. The exuberance my brother exhibited when listening to the music and speaking of it left an indelible impression on me. I saw *Citizen Kane* growing up and was so impressed with it I decided I am going to write and direct that movie. I set the bar high. “While at UCLA, I became friends with a neighbor who was a TV director where he hired me to do a couple of acting jobs and TV work. I was mentored by him in film-making, editing them and seeing how he looked at the business. One day he calls up and says, ‘I have a movie to direct.’ That movie turned out to be ‘M\*A\*S\*H,’ and the director was Robert Altman. The studio initially hated the film; they weren’t going to release it. Altman got the critics to review it, and they went berserk. Mentorship was a day-to-day thing from those in the industry where it was very important to me and my career. “When I had completed ‘M\*A\*S\*H*,*’ an up-and-coming director named Hal Ashby connected with me. I started mentoring with him for about three years, so I was being mentored by Ashby and Altman at the same time. These guys invited me to see their work and wanted to be friends. I was then hired to do movies in Italy for over four years." ### 3. What Did You Do in the Air Force? “I was a classification specialist at Bergstrom. If there was a motor vehicle airman in some air base in Italy, I would have to select them to be sent to Korea or wherever off the base. It was not what I wanted to have, but it was OK.” ### 4. What Values Did You Take from the Air Force to the Civilian World? “Focus and discipline with a better sense of who I was.” ### 5. What Was One of the Toughest Lessons You Learned Coming to Hollywood? ![Tom Skerritt]() *Tom Skerritt doesn't look as though he is having fun in this scene with Shirley MacLaine from 'Steel Magnolias.' (TriStar Pictures)* “I don’t have one, other than a lesson from childhood: An old man told us young kids to ‘just keep moving.’ Every day I am writing, and people ask me why I work so hard. I am busy working on Triple Squirrels \[Skerritt’s film and production company\], where we are collecting a lot of documentaries that have been on shelves for years. It is all wonderful, entertaining stuff such as glass workers like Dale Chihuly; one of the great glass artists in the world lives up here \[in the Pacific Northwest\]. It's guys doing imaginative stuff. “I keep going back to that, and the imagination is such a gift to us human beings and sets us apart from all the other animals. It makes us curious and gives us the highs and lows that we have emotionally. It gives us the questions we have where it is all driven by our imaginative experience. The Air Force is the same thing with imagining to fly and being able to fly. I had a little bit of that experience in ‘Top Gun,’ which made me feel like I was the real thing. “All of these things of being an actor and writer and director where I look back on all of it and say, “Holy shit, man, did you really cover some territory where you have some advantages that you could employ to give to other people?” There is one thing from the service, such as having the back of the other person and you are looking out for them. That was one of the big things I loved about the military. In the military, you have the training to be aware of other people for their benefit and your own. \[It’s\] not always the same in the civilian world.” ### 6. What Were Your Favorite Projects? ![Tom Skerritt]() *Tom Skerritt in a scene from 'A River Runs Through It.' (Columbia Pictures)* “I was fortunate to have worked with Ashby, Altman and then in “The Turning Point,” which starred Mikhail Baryshnikov, Anne Bancroft and Shirley MacLaine. All of these extraordinary people that I worked with, how could I pick out one favorite from “M\*A\*S\*H’ to ‘Alien’ with Ridley Scott? Alton, Ashby and Ridley Scott were new when I worked with them. I met Tony Scott on the set of ‘Alien,’ which led me to being involved in ‘Top Gun.’ “‘M\*A\*S\*H’ was the best time I ever had in anything where I knew we had something and no one else did except Altman and me. I just knew he was going to do something remarkable with all of the shooting he was doing. ‘Alien’ was done about seven to eight years after ‘M\*A\*S\*H,’ where those two films are in the top 25 films of the 20th century. So I wanted to work to the level of ‘Citizen Kane’ \[laughing\] “My getting close to ‘Citizen Kane’ is being in two of the top films of the 20th century, and then ‘Top Gun’ and ‘A River Runs Through It.’ All quite different with different approaches as an actor to each one of them. Doing interesting real people in every one of them where you had to make it real. It is hard to pick one out. “You bring all your past experiences into the roles you do in the future. My whole sense about life itself is how much of the good and not so good that you ingest and reject. All of it is there. This goes back to the Shakespeare quote from earlier, ‘There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.’ I understand that everything leads to the next day. Everything I got from life, the military, has given me this discipline to write every day. It has given me a sense that words have value. “\[Being in\] the military and bringing it to a role, you’re damn right it is still with me. I appreciate it and still do. I still have my gig line and can remember my serial number, 16401805! Why would I remember these things if they didn’t have something meaningful for me? “Doing ‘Picket Fences’ in the ’90s for four years and getting 16 Emmys over four years for best show, actor, writer, and that sort of stuff. To be in that environment, especially high end, you get spoiled in it. It is an unusual career for a person who wants to be a writer and director. I did some directing on David E. Kelley’s TV shows such as ‘Picket Fences’ and ‘Big Little Lies.’ Kelley was another mentor of mine.” ### 7. What Was It Like Working on Some of Your Most Notable Movies and Shows? ![Tom Skerritt]() *Tom Skerritt (middle) shares a scene with Elliott Gould (left) and Donald Sutherland in the movie 'M\*A\*SH.' (20th Century Fox)* “For ‘Top Gun,’ I read the script where I didn’t know who the director was at the time. It was really solid and then heard that Tony Scott was going to direct it. I heard about the film like having heard about Ridley doing ‘Alien.’ I read the ‘Alien’ script and thought it was solid. ‘Top Gun’ was already going to be done with the budget and good producers. I knew nothing else’ and then found out Tony was going to direct. It came together, and then \[I\] met Tom Cruise in the office to meet with Tony and with the producers. “Tom was out in the waiting area with me. I had seen Tom act in ‘Risky Business’ and thought he was a good young actor. I said to him, “You are a pretty good actor. Where did you come up with that juice?” Tom responded, ‘By watching guys like you, sir.’ ‘Wow, a young gentleman that appreciated his opportunity in ‘Top Gun.’’ He was not egomaniacal the way some actors can be in the movie business. I am always learning so I never felt that way where Top Gun is that type of thing where Tony is teaching me as well. “I got it from Ridley on ‘Alien’ and then from Tony where they were both similar. They were both soccer players and believe in getting into rhythms as athletes and musicians do. All of these rhythms come into what we do. I felt very strongly about Tony and for one of the few times really pushed to get into the film. Some of the producers felt I was too lethargic or casual and not military enough. I had been in the military so I could pull that one off, \[tapping\] into that presence you had when you were in the service. “Once I got the role, I met the actual ‘Top Gun’ commander. He was a thoughtful guy. I think the producers wanted someone who would be barking at the guys and getting on them all the time. I didn’t think the officer had to be someone shouting at other people. You just look them in the eye and say, ‘Why would you do such a dumb thing as that? What accounts for that behavior you pulled off out there, because you didn’t pull it off. That’s why you are in this office right now?’ “The reality of our life informs us in how we perform, and that’s really all I could do in getting that role. To work with Tony, that script, and then Tom Cruise pulled it all together. I was very sure about that film being very successful before I got into it. The instincts come back to me from going back into the Air Force where they never leave you.” ### 8. What Leadership Lessons Helped You Most in Your Career? ![Tom Skerritt]() *Tom Skerritt in a scene from the 1990s television series 'Picket Fences.' (20th Century Fox Television)* “Self-worth and the will to do more. I don’t feel all that I need to do and all that I can do. There is a lot to learn. When you have that in your life, it is a big purpose. “When I started hearing about veterans coming home from the Middle East with severe PTSD during the 2000s, I felt responsibility for them. I was not in a position to do it for them when it pulled on me. I was able to level out through setting up a writing program for them. In some way, this is all a gift where you just fully appreciate the best you can give. "We, through the Red Badge Program, took veterans down to Joint Base Lewis-McChord to teach those guys coming back how to utilize PTSD experience in terms of telling a story. Usually the bad stuff of what happened took place when \[they were\] under extreme stress. We had teachers come in to teach them how to tell their story and the best way they possibly can. It has to do with those dealing with their own feelings and expressing that. “The best way for me to relate to veterans is from some of my own PTS experiences. During the ’60s and ’70s as a young father and husband, I had to deal with some intense family issues, many times dealing with the safety of my children. I was on 24/7 surveillance and did not always know when and who to trust. It was a tough time for me personally, but a good time for me professionally where acting was this cathartic release for me. Things did get better for me and my family thankfully. “We had musicians come in to play music for them so they could write lyrics to the music. The veterans came out of their feeling so much better about themselves. I had veterans come up to me and tell me, ‘I was ready to do myself in. You saved my life.’ We had it for about seven or eight years where it was a hot news item with so many veterans committing suicide. We had to teach the veterans off-base at the University of Washington-Tacoma branch, because the military was not consistent with us since we were some soft, fluffy thing. The military was keeping veterans from coming at times, which stood in the way of what we were doing. We set up a community away from the military where they can feel comfortable in that environment without being evaluated. I gave the veterans my stories and they gave me theirs where we could trust each other. That’s really what they got. Most often they said, ‘I could trust myself; I got the trust of people and I felt like I could be true.’ That sounds simple, but it’s not simple.” ### 9. How Do We Get More Veteran Stories Told? “The Hollywood arena has changed so much that I don’t know how it works anymore. Most of the films I was involved in had a good story line. It was always about the story first. Hollywood has gotten so much into nine-digit budget films in the summer being a financial resource. Once you get there, it’s like saying, ‘I know it all.’ They would make their own audience, age 17-39, from the early ’90s on with every generation that came along they would replicate the same special effects, same story line just realigned to where they lost touch with the good stories they could tell. The screenplays became soft from then on, and once they are soft, there is nothing shocking about it. “When you make films that have a lot to do with shooting and killing, some of it may be comedy, but it is the most influential of mediums, so you must be responsible. We have a responsibility to do the best we possibly can for the audience. It’s not the right approach to have aggressive, hostile and angry films like how to blow some up. Whatever it may be, it influences impressionable young minds. It influences some kids in high schools, killing other students. It influences people. “The concern with studios and blockbusters ran out about six summers ago. All of those films had a sense of darkness and fear in them. We are running downhill where people are not reacting the same way they used to be scared. It is the same in so many ways that you have seen before. Once the reaction is gone, you don’t return to the movies where less tickets have been sold the last six summers. Studios realized how in debt they were and always relied on big blockbusters to bring revenue back to the studios. When the revenue falls out, you still have a lot of bills to pay. We are in a pit now in the lion’s den with movies. Hollywood will make some crafty films but will not be making as many as before.” ### 10. What Are You Most Proud Of? “I don’t think that way, where I am just grateful to have done so many projects. It has been extraordinary working in Europe and Italy for three or four years and seeing ruins of great civilizations and the Renaissance buildings. Finding that only culture can come from conflict and resolution. We are in the deepest conflict here in America right now. We should be concerned about where we are going. What am I most proud of? I don’t know how to answer that, because I have had a lot of good fortune. "I am proud of what I can say to you and proud to have the capabilities and the wife I have and the children that I have. I know what they have had to go through with me, and they are still with me and we have that love. I have this wonderful woman, Julia, where we have been together for 25 years. I have to tell you I appreciate her beyond words in a way that I could not if I hadn’t had all of these other life experiences, I related to you. That is the first time I ever said that. I have this woman I have now. I am also proud to have been in the U.S. military.” **Don’t Miss the Best of We Are The Mighty** **•** [**‘You can be my wingman anytime:’ Val Kilmer dead at 65**]() **•** [**It’s official: ‘Top Gun 3’ is in development**]() **•** [**‘The Terminal List’ kicks in your door and raids your house with season two**]() ## More - [91-year-old Hollywood legend Tom Skerritt is a USAF veteran]() - [Hollywood legend and Air Force vet Tom Skerritt dies at 93]() - [10 questions with Hollywood icon and Army veteran Robert Duvall]() - [10 questions with Army veteran and entertainment icon Lou Pitt]() - [Tom Selleck, iconic actor and military veteran, turns 81]() - [10 questions with Kevin Kent: From Navy SEALs to Jack Ryan]() - [Jamie Farr: 10 Questions with M\*A\*S\*H star and famed actor]() - [What the balls is happening with Tom Cruise’s ‘Digger’ trailer]()