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
Miami Vice
Mason Mather
The Wonder Years
Coach Silva
Back to the Future
Mr. Strickland
Leverage
Dean Chesny
Hill Street Blues
Tales from the Crypt
Sgt. McClaine ("segment "The Trap")
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
Dr. Oates
The Equalizer
Ruger
Naked City
Evan Humbolt, Mail Clerk
Top Gun
Stinger
Back to the Future Part II
Strickland
The Pretender
FBI Special Agent Korkos
Remington Steele
Norman Keyes
Early Edition
Coach Philips
Back to the Future Part III
Marshal Strickland
Bone Tomahawk
Pianist
Sketch Artist II: Hands That See
Tonelli
Back in Time
Self
Armed and Dangerous
Lou Brackman
WarGames
Wigan
Problem Child 2
Mr. Thron
Question of Faith
Doctor Siegel
Nowhere Man
Commander Cyrus Quinn
Love and Death
Napoleon
Turk 182!
Hanley
The Case of the Hillside Stranglers
Lt. Ed Henderson
Bloodfist IV: Die Trying
Agent Sterling
Prince of the City
George Polito
They Might Be Giants
Mr. Brown
Opportunity Knocks
Sal
The Amityville Horror
Coroner
Serpico
Steiger
Family Business
Judge
Weekend War
Dr. Alex Thompson
The Friends of Eddie Coyle
The Man's contact man
The Werewolf of Washington
Dark Glasses
Robo Warriors
Quon
Iceman
Maynard
Looking Back to the Future
Self
Guns: A Day in the Death of America
Narrator
A Nero Wolfe Mystery
Richard Wragg
A Nero Wolfe Mystery
Mr. Hackett
A Nero Wolfe Mystery
FBI Agent Richard Wragg
A Nero Wolfe Mystery
Leo Bingham
A Nero Wolfe Mystery
Bernard Quest
Masters of the Universe
Detective Lubic
Wolfen
Baldy
The River
Howard Simpson
Tales from the Future
Self
Dick Tracy
Numbers
Sketch Artist
Tonelli
Little Spies
Kennel Master
Made in Heaven
Mr. Bjornstead
The Hat Squad
Mike Ragland
Cobra
Dallas Cassel
Off Beat
Harry
Driving Me Crazy
Vince
Mary
Lester Mintz
Heavens Fall
Thomas Knight, Sr.
Boiling Point
Levitt
True Blood
Det. Joseph Hanley
Love in Ambush
Agent Price
The Wonderful World of Disney
The Kennel Master
Phil Spector
Judge Fidler
Wings
Billy
Hangfire
Patch
Underworld
Dan 'Iceberg' Eagan
Second Sight
Coolidge
7 Times Lucky
Dutch
Hanky Panky
Conferee
Stiletto
Edwards
Viper
William Tansey
Author! Author!
Lt. Glass
Split Decisions
Benny Pistone
Ministry of Vengeance
Colonel Freeman
The Three Sisters
Independence
Tom Paine
Flanagan
Turner