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).
Eighties teenager Marty McFly is accidentally sent back in time to 1955, inadvertently...
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For Lieutenant Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell and his friend and co-pilot Nick 'Goose' Bradshaw, being...
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Marty and Doc are at it again in this wacky sequel to the 1985 blockbuster as the time-traveling...
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The final installment of the Back to the Future trilogy finds Marty digging the trusty DeLorean...
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Problem Child 2
as Mr. ThronJunior and his father, Ben, move from Cold River to Mortville. Junior becomes threatened by...
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Bone Tomahawk
as PianistDuring a shootout in a saloon, Sheriff Hunt injures a suspicious stranger. The doctor's...
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The Amityville Horror
as CoronerGeorge Lutz, his wife Kathy, and their three children have just moved into a beautiful, and...
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High School student David Lightman has a talent for hacking. But while trying to hack into a...
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Masters of the Universe
as Detective LubicThe world of Eternia in the aftermath of Skeletor's war on Castle Grayskull, which he has won...
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Love and Death
as NapoleonIn czarist Russia, a neurotic soldier and his distant cousin formulate a plot to assassinate...
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Serpico
as SteigerFrank Serpico is an idealistic New York City cop who refuses to take bribes, unlike the rest of...
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Phil Spector
as Judge FidlerA drama centered on the relationship between Phil Spector and defense attorney Linda Kenney...
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Family Business
as JudgeJessie is an aging career criminal who has been in more jails, fights, schemes, and lineups than...
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Dick Tracy
as NumbersThe comic strip detective finds his life vastly complicated when Breathless Mahoney makes...
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Boiling Point
as LevittRed is an aging scam-artist who's just been released from prison together with Ronnie, a young...
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Back in Time
as SelfCast, crew and fans explore the 'Back to the Future' time-travel trilogy's resonance throughout...
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The River
as Howard SimpsonTom and Mae Garvey are a Tennessee farming couple battling violent floods to save their land. In...
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Wolfen
as BaldyA New York City cop and an expert criminologist trying to solve a series of grisly deaths in...
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Hanky Panky
as ConfereeNaïve Michael Jordon is drawn into a web of government secrets when a girl carrying a mysterious...
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Armed and Dangerous
as Lou BrackmanAfter policeman Frank Dooley is framed for theft and loses his job on the force, he joins a...
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Iceman
as MaynardA team of Arctic researchers find a 40,000 year-old man frozen in ice and bring him back to...
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Val
as Self (archive footage)For over 40 years Val Kilmer, one of Hollywood’s most mercurial and/or misunderstood actors has...
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Prince of the City
as George PolitoNew York City detective Daniel Ciello agrees to help the United States Department of Justice...
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Made in Heaven
as Mr. BjornsteadDeceased drifter Mike arrives in Heaven and quickly falls for newborn soul Annie, soon to start...
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The Friends of Eddie Coyle
as The Man's contact manAn aging hood is about to go back to prison. Hoping to escape his fate, he supplies information...
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They Might Be Giants
as Mr. BrownAfter the death of his wife, wealthy retiree Justin Playfair creates a fantasy world for himself...
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Author! Author!
as Lt. GlassA broadway playwright is burning the candle at both ends. He is dealing with pressure from a...
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Opportunity Knocks
as SalEddie and Lou are a couple of two-bit con men on the lam from a loan shark. They hide out in...
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Turk 182!
as HanleyAfter New York City firefighter Terry Lynch is unable to receive any compensation for an injury...
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Underworld
as Dan 'Iceberg' EaganA crook sets out to get revenge on the thugs who hurt his father in this bloody noir-style crime...
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Hangfire
as PatchWhen a large group of escaped convicts take Ike Slayton, a Vietnam veteran's wife hostage,...
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Robo Warriors
as QuonThe year is 2036 and Earth has been invaded: hope lies with the last Robo Warrior - a towering...
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Heavens Fall
as Thomas Knight, Sr.Successful New York attorney Sam Leibowitz travels to the South in 1933 to defend nine young...
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Sketch Artist II: Hands That See
as TonelliPolice sketch artist Jack Whitfield helps blind rape victim Emmy describe her attacker – a...
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The Case of the Hillside Stranglers
as Lt. Ed HendersonThe chilling true story of the "two of a kind" killing cousins, Angelo Buono and Kenneth...
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Second Sight
as CoolidgeWills is an ex-cop who pairs up with Bobby, a wacky psychic, to form the "Second Sight Detective...
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Ministry of Vengeance
as Colonel FreemanDavid Miller is a Vietnam vet who renounced violence and became a minister after he was forced...
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The Werewolf of Washington
as Dark GlassesAfter being unknowingly inflicted with the bite of a werewolf while on a visit to Europe, White...
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Driving Me Crazy
as VinceAn eccentric East German inventor and defector travels to Los Angeles, California to sell a...
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Bloodfist IV: Die Trying
as Agent SterlingWhen Danny unknowingly repossesses the car of a powerful arms merchant, it sets off a chain of...
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Split Decisions
as Benny PistoneWhen a boxer is killed because he wouldn't take a dive, his brother tries to find a way to...
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Off Beat
as HarryJoe Gower's job is skating through library shelves, fetching books. A police officer/friend of...
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Sketch Artist
as TonelliA sketch artist for the police helps a witness recall who she saw leaving the scene of a murder,...
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Little Spies
as Kennel MasterWhen a runaway stray dog is rescued by the local neighborhood kids, they discover a nearby gang...
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True Blood
as Det. Joseph HanleyTeenager Ray Trueblood is wrongfully accused of murdering a police officer after his fellow gang...
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Stiletto
as EdwardsA rich, jet-setting playboy has a secret life: he's also a professional Mafia hitman. When he...
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7 Times Lucky
as DutchAn aging con-man and a beautiful, ambitious student cross paths in a scam that promises to make...
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Viper
as William TanseyAfter Laura's husband James is murdered, she decides to find out who did it and why. She finds...
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Tales from the Future
as SelfEighy-part retrospective documentary on the making of "Back to the Future" (and its two sequels)...
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Looking Back to the Future
as SelfA 9-part retrospective documentary from 2009 on the trilogy’s legacy.
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Sunset Beat
as Ray ParkerPolice drama involving a team of young Los Angeles undercover cops posing as bikers to nail street
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Question of Faith
as Doctor SiegelA woman struck down by terminal cancer shuns conventional medical techniques at her husband's...
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The Three Sisters
as uncreditedIn a small Russian town at the turn of the century, three sisters and their brother live but...
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Flanagan
as TurnerAging New York cabbie Flanagan still has hopes of making it as a stage actor. He can recite any...
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Weekend War
as Dr. Alex ThompsonA group of reservists ("weekend warriors") are sent to Honduras to build a runway. Shortly after...
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Wings
as BillyAn elderly woman, a former aviatrix, is gradually recovering from a stroke.
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The Equalizer
as RugerRobert McCall is a former agent of a secret government agency who is now running his own private...
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Naked City
as Evan Humbolt, Mail ClerkNaked City is a police drama series which aired from 1958 to 1963 on the ABC television network....
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The Wonder Years
as Coach SilvaThe story of Kevin Arnold facing the trials and tribulations of youth while growing up during...
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Hill Street Blues
as uncreditedA realistic glimpse into the daily lives of the officers and detectives at an urban police station.
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Leverage
as Dean ChesnyA five-person team comprised of a thief, a grifter, a hacker, and a retrieval specialist, led by...
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Remington Steele
as Norman KeyesLaura Holt, a licensed private detective, opens a detective agency but finds that potential...
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Miami Vice
as Mason MatherThe story of the Miami Police Department's vice squad and its efforts to end drug trafficking...
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Tales from the Crypt
as Sgt. McClaineCadaverous scream legend the Crypt Keeper is your macabre host for these forays of fright and...
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The Pretender
as FBI Special Agent KorkosRaised in a secret facility built for experimenting on children, Jarod is a genius who can...
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Early Edition
as uncreditedGary Hobson thinks he may even be losing his mind when tomorrow's newspaper mysteriously arrives...
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The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
as Dr. OatesWill, a street-smart teenager, moves from the tough streets of West Philly to posh Bel-Air to...
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The Hat Squad
as Mike RaglandThe Hat Squad is a crime drama television series that ran for only one season on CBS, during the...
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Cobra
as Dallas CasselCobra is an American television action/adventure series starring Michael Dudikoff. It ran for...
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Nowhere Man
as Commander Cyrus QuinnThomas Veil is a documentary photographer who, in the course of one evening, seemingly has his...
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The Wonderful World of Disney
as The Kennel MasterWalt Disney Productions has produced an anthology television series under several different...
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A Nero Wolfe Mystery
as Richard WraggGenius detective Nero Wolfe and his right-hand man, Archie Goodwin, solve seemingly impossible...
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A Nero Wolfe Mystery
as Mr. HackettGenius detective Nero Wolfe and his right-hand man, Archie Goodwin, solve seemingly impossible...
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A Nero Wolfe Mystery
as FBI Agent Richard WraggGenius detective Nero Wolfe and his right-hand man, Archie Goodwin, solve seemingly impossible...
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Mary
as Lester MintzMary is an American sitcom that aired on CBS during the 1985-86 television season. The series...
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