James S. Tolkan (born June 20, 1931) is an American actor, often cast as a strict, overbearing, bald-headed authority figure. He is one of the few actors who have sported a shaved head in all films they star in, as well as normally sporting it outside the industry.
He was born in Calumet, Michigan, the son of Ralph M. Tolkan, a cattle dealer, and attended the University of Iowa, Coe College, the Actors Studio and Eastern Arizona College. Tolkan currently lives in Lake Placid, New York and is an active participant in the Saranac Lake Pool League.
Tolkan is best known for his role in the 1985 film Back to the Future as the strict, disciplinarian Hill Valley High School principal Gerald Strickland. He referred to Marty McFly and his father derisively as "slackers". He reprised the role in the 1989 sequel Back to the Future Part II and, in 1990, he played the part of Mr. Strickland's grandfather in Back to the Future Part III. Other well-known roles include a government agent in WarGames and Stinger, the no-nonsense officer in the 1986 box-office hit Top Gun. He also appeared in the 1987 film Masters of the Universe as a police officer. He played a dual role in the Woody Allen comedy Love and Death, playing both Napoléon and a Napoléon look-alike. He also appeared as Big Boy Caprice's accountant "Numbers" in the 1990 Warren Beatty film Dick Tracy.
Tolkan has also made guest appearances on many TV shows, including Naked City, Remington Steele, Miami Vice and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. A member of the repertory cast of A Nero Wolfe Mystery (2001-2002), he played more than a dozen varied roles in the A&E TV series and also directed two episodes ("Die Like a Dog" and "The Next Witness").
"The Next Witness" (2002)
"Die Like a Dog" (2002)
