James Tolkan
Personal Info
Known For Actor
Gender Male
Birthday 1931-06-20 (93 years old)
Place of Birth Calumet, Michigan, USA
Also Known As James Tolkin, Jim Tolkan, James S. Tolkan, James B. Tolkan, James Stewart Tolkan, Джеймс Толкан
James Tolkan
Biography
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
Actor
as Self (archive footage)
as Pianist
as Self
as Judge Fidler
as Self
as Self
as Dean Chesny
as Thomas Knight, Sr.
as Dutch
as Richard Wragg
as Mr. Hackett
as FBI Agent Richard Wragg
as Quon
as Dan 'Iceberg' Eagan
as FBI Special Agent Korkos
as Tonelli
as Commander Cyrus Quinn
as Levitt
as Dallas Cassel
as Agent Sterling
as Tonelli
as Mike Ragland
as Mr. Thron
as Vince
as Patch
as Marshal Strickland
as Ray Parker
as Numbers
as Sal
as Dr. Oates
as Judge
as Strickland
as Coolidge
as Colonel Freeman
as Det. Joseph Hanley
as Lt. Ed Henderson
as Sgt. McClaine
as Doctor Siegel
as Benny Pistone
as Dr. Alex Thompson
as William Tansey
as Coach Silva
as Mr. Bjornstead
as Detective Lubic
as Kennel Master
as Lou Brackman
as Stinger
as Harry
as Turner
as Mr. Strickland
as Hanley
as Lester Mintz
as Ruger
as Howard Simpson
as Maynard
as Mason Mather
as Wigan
as Billy
as Lt. Glass
as Conferee
as Norman Keyes
as George Polito
as Baldy
as Coroner
as Napoleon
as Steiger
as Dark Glasses
as The Man's contact man
as Mr. Brown
as Edwards
as Evan Humbolt, Mail Clerk
as The Kennel Master
Crew
as Thanks
Producer
as Producer