94
Years
57
Movies
21
TV Shows
7.4
Rating
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.
94
Years Old
57
Movies
21
TV Shows
7.4
Avg Rating
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.
1988
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).
Gender
Male
Birthday
June 20, 1931
Birthplace
Calumet, Michigan, USA
Also Known As
Back to the Future
1985
Top Gun
1986
Guns: A Day in the Death of America
1990
Armed and Dangerous
1986
Back to the Future Part II
1989
Question of Faith
1988
Heavens Fall
2006
They Might Be Giants
1971
Back to the Future Part III
1990
Bloodfist IV: Die Trying
1992
Driving Me Crazy
1991
Weekend War
1988
Turk 182!
1985
Looking Back to the Future
2009
Problem Child 2
1991
Family Business
1989
WarGames
1983
Bone Tomahawk
2015
Tales from the Future
2010
Prince of the City
1981
+ 37 more movies
Miami Vice
1984
The Wonder Years
1988
Hill Street Blues
1981
Leverage
2008
The Equalizer
1985
The Pretender
1996
Tales from the Crypt
1989
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
1990
Naked City
1958
Remington Steele
1982
Early Edition
1996
A Nero Wolfe Mystery
2001
A Nero Wolfe Mystery
2001
A Nero Wolfe Mystery
2001
A Nero Wolfe Mystery
2001
A Nero Wolfe Mystery
2001
Nowhere Man
1995
The Wonderful World of Disney
1954
The Hat Squad
1992
Cobra
1993
+ 1 more TV shows