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Character actor James Tolkan, best known for playing no-nonsense authority figures who chewed out Michael J. Fox and Tom Cruise, respectively, in Back to the Future and Top Gun, died Thursday at age 94.
Tolkan played Stanford S. Strickland, the stern principal of Hill Valley High, in Back to the Future and Back to the Future Part II. He returned for Back to the Future Part III as Strickland’s ancestor James Strickland, the Marshal of Hill Valley in 1885.
In the 1985 original, Strickland famously went nose-to-nose with Fox’s Marty McFly after issuing him a detention slip and warning him to stay away from Doc Brown.
“You’ve got a real attitude problem, McFly, You’re a slacker. You remind me of your father when he went here. He was a slacker, too,” Strickland barked. “You’re too much like your old man. No McFly ever amounted to anything in the history of Hill Valley.”
Tolkan followed Back to the Future with 1986’s Top Gun where he portrayed Tom “Stinger” Jardian, the Commander of the USS Enterprise.
Stinger’s berating of Cruise’s Maverick included such memorable lines as “Son, your ego is writing checks your body can’t cash!” and “You screw up just this much, you’ll be flying a cargo plane full of rubber dogshit out of Hong Kong!”
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Tolkan passed away in Saranac Lake, New York. He was born in Calumet, Michigan on June 20, 1931 and began his acting career in theater after serving in the US Navy.
Tolkan’s other film credits include Dick Tracy, Serpico, Prince of the City, Wolfen, WarGames, Masters of the Universe, The Amityville Horror, Opportunity Knocks, Family Business, Boiling Point, and Bone Tomahawk.
His many TV credits include Miami Vice, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Remington Steele, The Equalizer, Hill Street Blues, Tales from the Crypt, The Wonder Years, and David Mamet’s 2013 telefilm Phil Spector.
