&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "Remembering James Tolkan: The Back to the Future actor who came to New York with $75 in his pocket")
Actor James Tolkan is no more. The actor, known for his roles in the Back to the Future trilogy and Tom Cruise’s Top Gun, has died. He was 94.
Tolkan breathed his last in Saranac Lake, New York, on Thursday (March 26). His death was announced by a spokesperson and by Back to the Future producer Bob Gale. No cause of death has been revealed.
In a career spanning five decades, Tolkan began working in the 1960s, with his early projects including shows like Naked City, The Three Sisters, They Might Be Giants, and Love and Death. However, his breakthrough came when he played the role of Mr. Strickland, the strict vice-principal, in Back to the Future. He went on to reprise the role in the second and third parts of the film.
As the vice-principal, he famously called Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox), his father (Crispin Glover), ‘’slackers.''
"You've got a real attitude problem, McFly, you're a slacker," Strickland says to McFly in the movie. "You remind me of your father when he went here. He was a slacker too."
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Apart from his role in the time-travel movie, Tolkan has memorably played roles in films such as Serpico (1973), Prince of the City (1981), Top Gun (1986), Masters of the Universe (1987), Dick Tracy (1990), and Problem Child 2 (1991).
In Tom Cruise’s Top Gun, he played Commander “Stinger,” often seen with a cigar in his mouth.
Soon after the news of Tolkan’s passing broke, tributes began pouring in.
One user wrote,''Rest in peace to James Tolkan. Between Top Gun and Back to the Future, he is responsible for some of the greatest line deliveries of all time.''
Another user on X remembered the late actor saying that he would always be remembered as Commander Tom Stinger Jardian.
''One of the many highlights from that movie. Rest in peace, James Tolkan. For us Top Gun fans, you´ll always be Commander Tom "Stinger" Jardian,'' another user wrote.
The actor who came to New York with $75 in his pocket
Born in Calumet, Michigan, in 1931, Tolkan spent his early years in Chicago. After his parents divorced, he moved to Tucson, Arizona, where he graduated. Before pursuing acting, he also had a short Navy career during the Korean War.
His acting career began when he boarded a bus to New York with $75 in his pocket. Living in a cold-water flat, he studied acting after enrolling with both Stella Adler and Lee Strasberg.
Tolkan is survived by his wife of 54 years, Parmelee, and three nieces.
