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
Back to the Future Part II (1989)
as Strickland
Top Gun (1986)
as Stinger
Back to the Future Part III (1990)
as Marshal Strickland
Masters of the Universe (1987)
as Lubic
Bone Tomahawk (2015)
as Pianist
WarGames (1983)
as Wigan
Problem Child 2 (1991)
as Mr. Thron
Serpico (1973)
as Steiger
Dick Tracy (1990)
as Numbers
The Amityville Horror (1979)
as Coroner
Val (2021)
as Self (archive)
Wolfen (1981)
as Baldy
Hanky Panky (1982)
as Conferee
Armed and Dangerous (1986)
as Lou Brackman
Prince of the City (1981)
as George Polito
Love and Death (1975)
as Napoleon
Boiling Point (1993)
as Levitt
Family Business (1989)
as Judge
The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973)
as The Man's Contact Man
Author! Author! (1982)
as Lt. Glass
Iceman (1984)
as Maynard
They Might Be Giants (1971)
as Mr. Brown
Made in Heaven (1987)
as Mr. Bjornstead
The River (1984)
as Howard Simpson
Off Beat (1986)
as Harry
Phil Spector (2013)
as Judge Fidler
Sketch Artist II: Hands That See (1995)
as Tonelli
Bloodfist IV: Die Trying (1992)
as Agent Sterling
Looking Back to the Future (2009)
as Self
Opportunity Knocks (1990)
as Sal
Tales from the Future (2010)
as Self
Back in Time (2015)
as Self
Sketch Artist (1992)
as Tonelli
Underworld (1996)
as Dan 'Iceberg' Eagan
Split Decisions (1988)
as Benny Pistone
The Werewolf of Washington (1973)
as Dark Glasses
Driving Me Crazy (1991)
as Vince
The Case of the Hillside Stranglers (1989)
as Lt. Ed Henderson
Robo Warriors (1996)
as Quon
Heavens Fall (2006)
as Thomas Knight, Sr.
Little Spies (1986)
as Kennel Master
Question of Faith (1988)
as Doctor Siegel
True Blood (1989)
as Det. Joseph Hanley
Turk 182! (1985)
as Hanley
Second Sight (1989)
as Coolidge
Wings (1983)
as Billy
Stiletto (1969)
as Edwards
7 Times Lucky (2004)
as Dutch
The Three Sisters (1966)
Actor
Ministry of Vengeance (1989)
as Colonel Freeman
Flanagan (1985)
as Turner
Independence (1976)
as Tom Paine
Weekend War (1988)
as Dr. Alex Thompson
Hangfire (1991)
as Patch
Love in Ambush (1997)
as Agent Price
Beyond Betrayal (1994)
as Joe Maloney
Guns: A Day in the Death of America (1990)
as Narrator
Viper (1988)
as William Tansey