Person
James Tolkan
Calumet, Michigan, USA
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 a…
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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).
Filmography
Movies and shows, newest first
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2021
Val
Movie Self (archive)
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2015
Bone Tomahawk
Movie Pianist
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2015
Back in Time
Movie Self
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2013
Phil Spector
Movie Judge Fidler
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2010
Tales from the Future
Movie Self
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2009
Looking Back to the Future
Movie Self
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2008
Leverage
TV show Dean Chesny
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2006
Heavens Fall
Movie Thomas Knight, Sr.
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2004
7 Times Lucky
Movie Dutch
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2001
A Nero Wolfe Mystery
TV show Special Agent In Charge Richard Wragg
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1997
Love in Ambush
Movie Agent Price
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1996
Robo Warriors
Movie Quon
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1996
Early Edition
TV show Coach Philips
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1996
The Pretender
TV show FBI Special Agent Korkos
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1996
Underworld
Movie Dan 'Iceberg' Eagan
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1995
Nowhere Man
TV show Cyrus Quinn
More credits
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1995
Sketch Artist II: Hands That See
Movie Tonelli
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1994
Beyond Betrayal
Movie Joe Maloney
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1993
Cobra
TV show Dallas Cassel
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1993
Boiling Point
Movie Levitt
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1992
Bloodfist IV: Die Trying
Movie Agent Sterling
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1992
Sketch Artist
Movie Tonelli
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1992
The Hat Squad
TV show Mike Ragland
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1991
Problem Child 2
Movie Mr. Thron
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1991
Driving Me Crazy
Movie Vince
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1991
Hangfire
Movie Patch
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1990
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
TV show Dr. Oates
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1990
Guns: A Day in the Death of America
Movie Narrator
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1990
Dick Tracy
Movie Numbers
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1990
Back to the Future Part III
Movie Marshal Strickland
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1990
Sunset Beat
TV show Ray Parker
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1990
Opportunity Knocks
Movie Sal
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1989
Family Business
Movie Judge
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1989
Back to the Future Part II
Movie Strickland
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1989
Second Sight
Movie Coolidge
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1989
Ministry of Vengeance
Movie Colonel Freeman
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1989
Tales from the Crypt
TV show Sgt. McClaine ("segment "The Trap")
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1989
True Blood
Movie Det. Joseph Hanley
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1989
The Case of the Hillside Stranglers
Movie Lt. Ed Henderson
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1988
Question of Faith
Movie Doctor Siegel
