James Tolkan
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Fiery, forceful and intimidating character actor James Tolkan carved out a nice little niche for himself in both movies and television alike as a formidable portrayer of fierce and flinty hard-boiled tough guy types. James Stewart Tolkan was born on June 20, 1931 in Calumet, Michigan. His father, Ralph M. Tolkan, was a cattle dealer. James attended the University of Iowa, Coe College and Eastern Arizona College. After serving a year-long stint in the United States Navy, Tolkan went to New York and studied acting with both Lee Strasberg and Stella Adler at the Actors Studio. Short and bald, with beady, intense eyes, a wiry, compact, muscular build, a gruff, jarring, high-decibel voice, and an aggressive, confrontational, blunt-as-a-battle-ax, rough-around-the-edges demeanor, Tolkan has been often cast as rugged, cynical no-nonsense cops, mean, domineering authority figures, and various ruthless and dangerous criminals. Tolkan first began acting in movies in the late 1960s and was highly effective in two pictures for Sidney Lumet: He was a rabidly homophobic police lieutenant in the superbly gritty Serpico (1973) and a sneaky district attorney in the equally excellent Prince of the City (1981). Best known as the obnoxiously overzealous high school principal Gerard Strickland in the Back to the Future films, Tolkan's other most memorable roles include Napolean in Woody Allen's Love and Death (1975), a ramrod army officer in WarGames (1983), mayor Robert Culp's mordant, wisecracking assistant in Turk 182 (1985), the hard-nosed Stinger in Top Gun (1986), the choleric Detective Lubric in Masters of the Universe (1987), meek mob accountant Numbers in Dick Tracy (1990), and Wesley Snipes' bullish superior in Boiling Point (1993).
Known for
Credits
Back to the Future (1985)
as Mr. Strickland
Top Gun (1986)
as Stinger
Back to the Future Part II (1989)
as Strickland
Back to the Future Part III (1990)
as Marshal Strickland
Dick Tracy (1990)
as Numbers
Masters of the Universe (1987)
as Lubic
Wolfen (1981)
as Baldy
WarGames (1983)
as Wigan
Val (2021)
as Self (archive)
Bone Tomahawk (2015)
as Pianist
Iceman (1984)
as Maynard
Serpico (1973)
as Steiger
Problem Child 2 (1991)
as Mr. Thron
The Amityville Horror (1979)
as Coroner
Author! Author! (1982)
as Lt. Glass
Made in Heaven (1987)
as Mr. Bjornstead
Hanky Panky (1982)
as Conferee
Tales from the Future (2010)
as Self
Off Beat (1986)
as Harry
Armed and Dangerous (1986)
as Lou Brackman
The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973)
as The Man's Contact Man
Underworld (1996)
as Dan 'Iceberg' Eagan
Love and Death (1975)
as Napoleon
Ministry of Vengeance (1989)
as Colonel Freeman
They Might Be Giants (1971)
as Mr. Brown
The River (1984)
as Howard Simpson
Question of Faith (1988)
as Doctor Siegel
Prince of the City (1981)
as George Polito
Family Business (1989)
as Judge
Boiling Point (1993)
as Levitt
Flanagan (1985)
as Turner
Driving Me Crazy (1991)
as Vince
Opportunity Knocks (1990)
as Sal
Back in Time (2015)
as Self
Wings (1983)
as Billy
Phil Spector (2013)
as Judge Fidler
Bloodfist IV: Die Trying (1992)
as Agent Sterling
Sketch Artist (1992)
as Tonelli
The Werewolf of Washington (1973)
as Dark Glasses
The Case of the Hillside Stranglers (1989)
as Lt. Ed Henderson
Sketch Artist II: Hands That See (1995)
as Tonelli
Robo Warriors (1996)
as Quon
Split Decisions (1988)
as Benny Pistone
Heavens Fall (2006)
as Thomas Knight, Sr.
True Blood (1989)
as Det. Joseph Hanley
Hangfire (1991)
as Patch
Turk 182! (1985)
as Hanley
Little Spies (1986)
as Kennel Master
Second Sight (1989)
as Coolidge
7 Times Lucky (2004)
as Dutch
Looking Back to the Future (2009)
as Self
Stiletto (1969)
as Edwards
Viper (1988)
as William Tansey
Independence (1976)
as Tom Paine
Weekend War (1988)
as Dr. Alex Thompson
Beyond Betrayal (1994)
as Joe Maloney
The Three Sisters (1966)
Actor
Guns: A Day in the Death of America (1990)
as Narrator
Love in Ambush (1997)
as Agent Price