Tom Skerritt, the veteran American actor known for his commanding screen presence in decades of film and television, has died at the age of 93. His death was confirmed by his family and a representative in a statement. He died of natural causes.

Skerritt brought a rugged authority to a wide range of roles throughout his career, playing commanding officers, law enforcement figures, and fathers across film and television.

He is perhaps best remembered as Captain Dallas in the 1979 science fiction thriller "Alien," as flight instructor Viper in the 1986 blockbuster "Top Gun," and as a small-town sheriff in the television series "Picket Fences," for which he won an Emmy Award in 1993.

His film credits also included the original "M*A*S*H," in which he played an enlisted soldier — one of the few characters who did not carry over to the later television series — as well as a Vietnam veteran in "Up in Smoke," and fatherly roles in "Ice Castles," "Steel Magnolias," and "A River Runs Through It." He also played a sheriff in the film "The Dead Zone."

Skerritt described himself as a blue-collar kid from Detroit. He served in the Air Force before attending UCLA and turning to theater. His early Hollywood years included appearances in television productions ranging from "My Three Sons" to "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour."

During that period he also formed connections with figures including actor Robert Redford and director Hal Ashby, who cast him in "Harold and Maude."

Away from the screen, Skerritt was active in promoting independent film and theater in the Pacific Northwest, where he lived. He co-founded The Red Badge Project, a program that offers veterans storytelling courses as a way to share their experiences.