James Tolkan

James Stewart Tolkan, born June 20, 1931, in Calumet, Michigan, is an American actor whose career has spanned Broadway, film, and television. The son of Dale Nichols and Ralph M. Tolkan, a cattle dealer, he graduated from Amphitheater High School in Tucson, Arizona, in 1949, where he was a member of the football team. He went on to attend Eastern Arizona College on a football scholarship before enlisting in the United States Navy during the Korean War, serving aboard the USS Sandoval. A heart condition led to his discharge within a year, after which he pursued his academic studies, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in drama from the University of Iowa in 1956.

Tolkan's Broadway career extended from 1964 to 1984 and encompassed productions including 42 Seconds from Broadway, Full Circle, Golda, Wings, and Glengarry Glen Ross. His work in the latter earned him a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Ensemble Work in 1984.

In film, Tolkan built a substantial body of work across several decades. He appeared in a small but notable role as a policeman in Serpico in 1973, and the following year took on a dual role in Woody Allen's Love and Death, playing both Napoleon and a look-alike. Sidney Lumet cast him as District Attorney Polito in Prince of the City in 1981. He portrayed an FBI agent in WarGames before landing one of his most recognized roles: the strict Hill Valley High School vice principal Gerald Strickland in the 1985 blockbuster Back to the Future, a character defined by his habit of dismissing Marty McFly, his father, and Biff Tannen as "slackers." Tolkan reprised the role in Back to the Future Part II in 1989, in which Strickland is assaulted in a drive-by shooting in a dystopian version of 1985 and returns fire while again using his signature insult. In 1990's Back to the Future Part III, he played Strickland's grandfather, Chief Marshal James Strickland. He continued to portray Strickland and the character's various ancestors and descendants in the 1991 animated series spin-off.

Also in 1986, Tolkan appeared as Stinger, the commanding officer of the USS Enterprise's Carrier Air Wing, in the box-office hit Top Gun, and played union treasurer Lou Brackman in Armed and Dangerous. The following year he appeared as Detective Lubic in Masters of the Universe. His 1990 film work included Dick Tracy, in which he played "Numbers," the accountant to villain Big Boy Caprice. He appeared in Problem Child 2 in 1991. He later reprised his Top Gun character in the video games Top Gun: Fire at Will in 1996 and Top Gun: Hornet's Nest in 1998.

On television, Tolkan made guest appearances on series including Naked City, Remington Steele, Miami Vice, The Hat Squad, and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. He joined the repertory cast of A Nero Wolfe Mystery, the A&E series that ran from 2001 to 2002, where he played more than a dozen different roles and also directed two episodes, "Die Like a Dog" and "The Next Witness."