James Tolkan in Back to the Future
Credit: Universal Pictures
NEED TO KNOW
James Tolkan died at 94 on Thursday, March 26 in Saranac Lake, N.Y.
Tolkan famously starred as Mr. Strickland in the Back to the Future franchise
“He was just one of the kindest men you would ever meet,” a crew member who worked on Back to the Future tells PEOPLE of the late actor
James Tolkan, who famously starred as Mr. Strickland in the Back to the Future franchise and as the stern Commander Tom “Stinger” Jardian in Top Gun, has died. He was 94.
Tolkan died in Saranac Lake, N.Y., on Thursday, March 26, the late actor’s management confirmed to PEOPLE.
“I dearly, dearly loved Mr. Tolkan,” a crew member who worked on Back to the Future tells PEOPLE of the late actor.
“I saw him at the last convention he did this past October,” the crew member tells PEOPLE. “Well, we sat next to each other, you know, meeting fans. He was so good with the fans because he never turned down a request to do a photo nose-to-nose like he was with Michael [J. Fox] in the movie, and you know, call them slackers and and play with them.”
“Any time I got a chance to see James was just delightful,” the crew member adds. “As mean and nasty as Mr. Strickland was, James Tolkan was the polar opposite. He was just one of the kindest men you would ever meet.”
The actor, who was originally from Michigan, “cycled through Chicago after his parents divorced and wound up in Tuscon, Arizona where he graduated Amphitheater High School in 1949,” according to a statement shared by Tolkan’s management.
Tolkan went on to serve in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War, and moved to New York City following his military service, where he studied acting with both Stella Adler and Lee Strasburg’s acting studios. Tolkan was a member of the original ensemble cast of Glengarry Glen Ross on Broadway. The play most recently had a Broadway revival in 2025 that starred Kieran Culkin, Bob Odenkirk and Bill Burr.
Sidney Lumet directed Tolkan in several films, including Serpico alongside Al Pacino in 1973, in Prince of the City in 1981, and as a judge in Family Business in 1989.
James Tolkan during “Back To The Future” Reunion And DVD Launch Party at Universal backlot in Universal City, California, United States.
Credit: L. Cohen/WireImage
One of Tolkan’s most beloved roles was as Mr. Strickland in Back to the Future in 1985. Directed by Robert Zemeckis, Tolkan played a humorously strict high school vice principal who frequently called his students, notably Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox), “slackers.” He reprised the role in Back to the Future Part II and played one of Strickland’s ancestors in Back to the Future Part III.
James Tolkan
Credit: Courtesy of Entertainment Legends Management
He went on to appear in another 1980s classic—Top Gun, as Tom Cruises’s CO Stinger. He continued to appear in film and television roles through 2011.
The actor first visited the Lake Placid, N.Y., area in the 1970s with his wife, who had spent her childhood summers there, his management said in a statement. In 1996, he “built a home to show off the art he had collected over the years when he was unemployed,” according to the statement.
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Tolkan is survived by his wife of 54 years, Parmelee, and three nieces in Des Moines, Iowa.
“Jim adored animals and would appreciate donations in his memory to the Tri Lakes Humane Society,” per his management, and his family encourages fans to donate to their own local chapters of the Humane Society.
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