Tom Skerritt, the rough-hewn actor who sparkled amid ensembles in M*A*S*H, Alien and Top Gun before starring as small-town sheriff Jimmy Brock on the quirky 1990s series Picket Fences, has died. He was 93.

Skerritt died Wednesday of natural causes, his family announced.

 We are heartbroken by his loss,  they 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. He cared deeply about imagination, creativity, storytelling, service, veterans, the natural world and helping others find and share their own voices. 

The collaborative Skerritt also portrayed Shirley MacLaine's husband in the 11-time Oscar nominee The Turning Point (1977), was Tom Cruise's Air Force instructor Mike  Viper  Metcalf in Top Gun (1986) and was memorable as a minister and the patriarch of the MacLean family in Robert Redford s rhythmic A River Runs Through It (1992).

Known for his outdoorsy features and bristly mustache, the handsome actor exuded masculinity during his six-decade career and was often cast in positions of authority - as when he starred as the iconic lawman Will Kane in a 2000 remake of High Noon for TBS.

Skerritt's breakthrough came in the 1970 feature M*A*S*H. As Southern surgeon Duke Forrest, he opens the film by stealing a jeep with co-conspirator Hawkeye Pierce (Donald Sutherland) to get them to the mobile hospital where they're assigned to treat injured U.S. soldiers during the Korean War.

Once there, the two join forces with Trapper John McIntrye (Elliott Gould) and set about questioning any rigid army regulation that stands in the way of their drinking and womanizing.

The anti-establishment, freewheeling comedy, directed by Robert Altman, was one of the year's most popular films and led to the long-running CBS series of the same name. Curiously, Skerritt's character was one of the few not included in the small-screen adaptation; nonetheless, the role proved the actor had star power.

The Detroit native credited Altman for giving him the freedom to create the character.  I just l
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