James Tolkan
Born June 20, 1931 (Age: 94)
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Calumet, Michigan, USA
Biography
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).
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).
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Filmography
Bone Tomahawk
2015
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as Pianist
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Age: 84
Tales from the Future
2010
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as Self
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Age: 79
Looking Back to the Future
2009
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as Self
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Age: 77
Love in Ambush
1997
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as Agent Price
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Age: 65
Robo Warriors
1996
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as Quon
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Age: 65
Underworld
1996
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as Dan 'Iceberg' Eagan
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Age: 64
Boiling Point
1993
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as Levitt
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Age: 61
Bloodfist IV: Die Trying
1992
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as Agent Sterling
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Age: 61
Sketch Artist
1992
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as Tonelli
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Age: 60
Problem Child 2
1991
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as Mr. Thron
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Age: 60
Driving Me Crazy
1991
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as Vince
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Age: 59
Hangfire
1991
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as Patch
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Age: 59
Guns: A Day in the Death of America
1990
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as Narrator
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Age: 58
Back to the Future Part III
1990
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as Marshal Strickland
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Age: 58
Dick Tracy
1990
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as Numbers
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Age: 58
Opportunity Knocks
1990
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as Sal
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Age: 58
Family Business
1989
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as Judge
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Age: 58
Back to the Future Part II
1989
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as Strickland
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Age: 58
Second Sight
1989
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as Coolidge
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Age: 58
Ministry of Vengeance
1989
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as Colonel Freeman
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Age: 58
True Blood
1989
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as Det. Joseph Hanley
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Age: 57
The Case of the Hillside Stranglers
1989
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as Lt. Ed Henderson
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Age: 57
Question of Faith
1988
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as Doctor Siegel
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Age: 57
Split Decisions
1988
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as Benny Pistone
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Age: 56
Weekend War
1988
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as Dr. Alex Thompson
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Age: 56
Viper
1988
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as William Tansey
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Age: 56
Made in Heaven
1987
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as Mr. Bjornstead
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Age: 56
Masters of the Universe
1987
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as Detective Lubic
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Age: 56
Armed and Dangerous
1986
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as Lou Brackman
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Age: 55
Top Gun
1986
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as Stinger
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Age: 54
Off Beat
1986
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as Harry
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Age: 54
Flanagan
1985
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as Turner
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Age: 54
Back to the Future
1985
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as Mr. Strickland
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Age: 54
Turk 182!
1985
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as Hanley
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Age: 53
The River
1984
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as Howard Simpson
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Age: 53
WarGames
1983
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as Wigan
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Age: 51
Author! Author!
1982
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as Lt. Glass
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Age: 50
Hanky Panky
1982
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as Conferee
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Age: 50
Prince of the City
1981
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as George Polito
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Age: 50
Wolfen
1981
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as Baldy
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Age: 50
The Amityville Horror
1979
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as Coroner
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Age: 48
Love and Death
1975
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as Napoleon
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Age: 43
Serpico
1973
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as Steiger
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Age: 42
The Werewolf of Washington
1973
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as Dark Glasses
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Age: 42
The Friends of Eddie Coyle
1973
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as The Man's contact man
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Age: 42
Stiletto
1969
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as Edwards
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Age: 38