James Tolkan

Fiery, forceful and intimidating character actor James Tolkan has 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: Acting

Born: Calumet, Michigan, USA, 1931-06-20

Died: null

Film

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1966	The Three Sisters		0
2	1969	Stiletto	Edwards	52
3	1971	They Might Be Giants	Mr. Brown	69
4	1973	The Friends of Eddie Coyle	The Man's contact man	73
5	1973	The Werewolf of Washington	Dark Glasses	38
6	1973	Serpico	Steiger	75
7	1975	Love and Death	Napoleon	75
8	1979	The Amityville Horror	Coroner	63
9	1981	Wolfen	Baldy	59
10	1981	Prince of the City	George Polito	70
11	1982	Hanky Panky	Conferee	52
12	1982	Author! Author!	Lt. Glass	59
13	1983	Wings	Billy	0
14	1983	WarGames	Wigan	71
15	1984	Iceman	Maynard	61
16	1984	The River	Howard Simpson	63
17	1985	Turk 182!	Hanley	58
18	1985	Back to the Future	Mr. Strickland	83
19	1985	Flanagan	Turner	0
20	1986	Off Beat	Harry	49
21	1986	Top Gun	Stinger	71
22	1986	Armed and Dangerous	Lou Brackman	56
23	1986	Little Spies	Kennel Master	65
24	1987	Masters of the Universe	Detective Lubic	57
25	1987	Made in Heaven	Mr. Bjornstead	66
26	1988	Viper	William Tansey	35
27	1988	Weekend War	Dr. Alex Thompson	20
28	1988	Split Decisions	Benny Pistone	51
29	1988	Question of Faith	Doctor Siegel	0
30	1989	The Case of the Hillside Stranglers	Lt. Ed Henderson	63
31	1989	True Blood	Det. Joseph Hanley	55
32	1989	Second Sight	Coolidge	44
33	1989	Ministry of Vengeance	Colonel Freeman	30
34	1989	Back to the Future Part II	Strickland	78
35	1989	Family Business	Judge	57
36	1990	Opportunity Knocks	Sal	57
37	1990	Dick Tracy	Numbers	62
38	1990	Sunset Beat	Ray Parker	70
39	1990	Back to the Future Part III	Marshal Strickland	75
40	1991	Hangfire	Patch	42
41	1991	Driving Me Crazy	Vince	37
42	1991	Problem Child 2	Mr. Thron	59
43	1992	Sketch Artist	Tonelli	55
44	1992	Bloodfist IV: Die Trying	Agent Sterling	52
45	1993	Boiling Point	Levitt	50
46	1995	Sketch Artist II: Hands That See	Tonelli	60
47	1996	Underworld	Dan 'Iceberg' Eagan	52
48	1997	Robo Warriors	Quon	53
49	1997	Love in Ambush	Agent Price	0
50	2004	7 Times Lucky	Dutch	63
51	2006	Heavens Fall	Thomas Knight, Sr.	73
52	2009	Looking Back to the Future	Self	80
53	2010	Tales from the Future	Self	75
54	2013	Phil Spector	Judge Fidler	57
55	2015	Back in Time	Self	65
56	2015	Bone Tomahawk	Pianist	69
57	2021	Val	Self (archive footage)	71

Television

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1954	The Wonderful World of Disney	The Kennel Master	76
2	1958	Naked City	Evan Humbolt, Mail Clerk	55
3	1981	Hill Street Blues		76
4	1982	Remington Steele	Norman Keyes	71
5	1984	Miami Vice	Mason Mather	74
6	1985	The Equalizer	Ruger	71
7	1985	Mary	Lester Mintz	50
8	1988	The Wonder Years	Coach Silva	83
9	1989	Tales from the Crypt	Sgt. McClaine ("segment "The Trap")	80
10	1990	The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air	Dr. Oates	79
11	1992	The Hat Squad	Mike Ragland	68
12	1993	Cobra	Dallas Cassel	66
13	1995	Nowhere Man	Commander Cyrus Quinn	75
14	1996	The Pretender	FBI Special Agent Korkos	74
15	1996	Early Edition		73
16	2001	A Nero Wolfe Mystery	Richard Wragg	78
17	2001	A Nero Wolfe Mystery	Mr. Hackett	78
18	2001	A Nero Wolfe Mystery	FBI Agent Richard Wragg	78
19	2001	A Nero Wolfe Mystery	Leo Bingham	78
20	2008	Leverage	Dean Chesny	76