James Tolkan
Acting
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).
Back to the Future Part III
as Marshal Strickland
Age 58 (now 94)
Sketch Artist II: Hands That See
as Tonelli
Age 63 (now 94)
Guns: A Day in the Death of America
as Narrator
Age 58 (now 94) Back to the Future Part III
as Marshal Strickland
Age 58 (now 94)
The Case of the Hillside Stranglers
as Lt. Ed Henderson
Age 57 (now 94)
The Friends of Eddie Coyle
as The Man's contact man
Age 42 (now 94)
A Nero Wolfe Mystery
as Special Agent In Charge Richard Wragg
Age 69 (now 94)
Tales from the Crypt
as Sgt. McClaine ("segment "The Trap")
Age 57 (now 94)
The Wonderful World of Disney
as The Kennel Master
Age 23 (now 94)Gathering insights...
Also Known As
James Tolkin, Jim Tolkan, James S. Tolkan, James B. Tolkan, James Stewart Tolkan, Джеймс Толкан, جیمز تولکان
IMDB
nm0866055