James Tolkan

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).

Filmografi

Back to the Future1985 · Mr. StricklandTop Gun1986 · StingerBack to the Future Part II1989 · StricklandBack to the Future Part III1990 · Marshal StricklandMasters of the Universe1987 · LubicWarGames1983 · WiganBone Tomahawk2015 · PianistThe Amityville Horror1979 · CoronerIceman1984 · MaynardDick Tracy1990 · NumbersSerpico1973 · SteigerProblem Child 21991 · Mr. ThronVal2021 · Self (archive)Wolfen1981 · BaldyAuthor! Author!1982 · Lt. GlassWings1983 · BillyUnderworld1996 · Dan 'Iceberg' EaganOff Beat1986 · HarryArmed and Dangerous1986 · Lou BrackmanMade in Heaven1987 · Mr. BjornsteadLove and Death1975 · NapoleonThe Friends of Eddie Coyle1973 · The Man's Contact ManTales from the Future2010 · SelfMinistry of Vengeance1989 · Colonel Freeman