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).
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| Organization | Category | Movie |
|---|
Cobra
as Dallas Cassel
Episodes: 22
First Aired: Sep 16, 1993
Mary
as Lester Mintz
Episodes: 13
First Aired: Dec 11, 1985
The Hat Squad
as Mike Ragland
Episodes: 11
First Aired: Sep 16, 1992
Remington Steele
as Norman Keyes
Episodes: 4
First Aired: Oct 01, 1982
The Pretender
as FBI Special Agent Korkos
Episodes: 2
First Aired: Sep 19, 1996
A Nero Wolfe Mystery
as FBI Agent Richard Wragg
Episodes: 2
First Aired: Apr 22, 2001
A Nero Wolfe Mystery
as Leo Bingham
Episodes: 2
First Aired: Apr 22, 2001
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
as Dr. Oates
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 10, 1990
Naked City
as Evan Humbolt, Mail Clerk
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 30, 1958
The Equalizer
as Ruger
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 18, 1985
The Wonder Years
as Coach Silva
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Jan 31, 1988
Nowhere Man
as Commander Cyrus Quinn
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Aug 28, 1995
A Nero Wolfe Mystery
as Richard Wragg
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Apr 22, 2001
A Nero Wolfe Mystery
as Mr. Hackett
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Apr 22, 2001
Leverage
as Dean Chesny
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Dec 07, 2008
Tales from the Crypt
as Sgt. McClaine
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Jun 10, 1989
Miami Vice
as Mason Mather
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 16, 1984
The Wonderful World of Disney
as The Kennel Master
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Oct 27, 1954
Early Edition
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 28, 1996
Hill Street Blues
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Jan 15, 1981
Popularity History
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| 2025 | 1 | 14 | 33 | 6 |
| 2025 | 2 | 7 | 16 | 1 |
| 2025 | 3 | 6 | 13 | 1 |
| 2025 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 2025 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| 2025 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 2025 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 2025 | 8 | 4 | 14 | 0 |