James Tolkan
1931-2026
Known for Back to the Future Part II, Back to the Future, Back to the Future Part III.
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).
Movie Credits
Opportunity Knocks (1990)
Viper (1988)
Seven Times Lucky (2004)
The Case of the Hillside Stranglers (1989)
Sketch Artist (1992)
Hangfire (1991)
Back to the Future Part II (1989)
Second Sight (1989)
Masters of the Universe (1987)
Iceman (1984)
Phil Spector (2013)
Heavens Fall (2006)
Robo Warriors (1996)
Split Decisions (1988)
The River (1984)
They Might Be Giants (1971)
Underworld (1996)
Bloodfist IV: Die Trying (1992)
Driving Me Crazy (1991)
Turk 182! (1985)
Boiling Point (1993)
Bone Tomahawk (2015)
Problem Child 2 (1991)
Back to the Future (1985)
Prince of the City (1981)
Back in Time (2015)
Sketch Artist II: Hands That See (1995)
Back to the Future Part III (1990)
Family Business (1989)
The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973)
Dick Tracy (1990)
Top Gun (1986)
WarGames (1983)
Author! Author! (1982)
Stiletto (1969)
Wolfen (1981)
Hanky Panky (1982)
The Werewolf of Washington (1973)
The Amityville Horror (1979)
Serpico (1973)
Made in Heaven (1987)
Armed and Dangerous (1986)
The Three Sisters (1966)
Looking Back to the Future (2009)
