Tom Atkins (actor)

Tom Atkins
Atkins in 2023
Born	(1938-11-13) November 13, 1938 (age 86) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S. [1]
Alma mater	Duquesne University
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1963–present
Spouse	Garn Stephens ​ ​ (m. 1976;div. 1985)​ Janis Lee Rodgers ​ (m. 1986)​
Children	1
Military career
Allegiance	United States of America
Service / branch	United States Navy

Tommy Lee Atkins (born November 13, 1938) is an American actor. He is known for his work in the horror and thriller film genres, having worked with writers and directors such as Shane Black, William Peter Blatty, John Carpenter, Fred Dekker, Richard Donner, Stephen King, and George A. Romero. He is also a familiar face to mainstream viewers, often playing police officers and tough authority figures and is perhaps best known for his role as Lt. Alex Diel in The Rockford Files (1974–1977).

Atkins has appeared in numerous films including The Fog (1980), The Ninth Configuration (1980), Escape from New York (1981), Creepshow (1982), Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982), Night of the Creeps (1986), Lethal Weapon (1987), Maniac Cop (1988), Two Evil Eyes (1990), Bob Roberts (1992), Striking Distance (1993), My Bloody Valentine 3D (2009), Drive Angry (2011), Encounter (2018), and Trick (2019).

Atkins has also appeared in numerous television series and films such as Hawaii Five-O (1975), Kojak: Flowers for Matty (1990), Walker, Texas Ranger (1993), Fortune Hunter (1994), Xena: Warrior Princess (1996), Homicide: Life on the Street (1998), Oz (2003), Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2003), The Jury (2004), The Last-Drive In with Joe Bob Briggs (2019), City on a Hill (2022), and Creepshow (2023).

Early life

Atkins initially had no desire to be an actor. His father worked in a steel mill in Pennsylvania and Atkins assumed that he would follow in his father's footsteps. He enlisted in the United States Navy and "noticed that the officers lived great, but that was only because they had gone to college," ^[2] and so, after leaving the navy, Atkins enrolled in college where he met a girl who was involved in a theatre group. Atkins studied at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh and was a member of the Gamma Phi fraternity. He says: "I was in my 20s already when I got interested in acting and I liked it a lot." ^[2]

Career

Atkins began his career in stage plays both on-and-off Broadway, before moving to Los Angeles to pursue a career in film and television. ^[2] His first movie role was in The Detective , which starred Frank Sinatra. Talking of his experience working on his first feature film – and with Sinatra – Atkins says: "It was great! It was intimidating and frightening and scary but Frank was great. He was very easy to work with. He didn't like to do a lot of takes. But then it's not like we were doing Shakespeare." ^[2]

After appearing in TV series and movies, including portraying Lt. Alex Diel in seasons 1 and 2 of The Rockford Files , Atkins began working within the horror and science fiction genres. He appeared in two films directed by John Carpenter: the 1980 ghost story The Fog and the 1981 science fiction thriller Escape from New York . His next role (this time a leading role) was the third installment of the Halloween franchise, the Carpenter-produced Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982). ^[3]

He completed further work with George A. Romero, appearing in three of the director's projects: the anthology Creepshow (1982), written by Stephen King; the anthology Two Evil Eyes (1990), based on tales by Edgar Allan Poe; and Bruiser (2000).^{[ citation needed ]}

He portrayed Detective Ray Cameron in the 1986 cult horror film Night of the Creeps , a role Atkins calls his very favorite. He tells Classic-Horror magazine "It was the most fun film I've ever worked on. It was a pure giggle from beginning to end. The director Fred Dekker was very young and very talented and he went on to do The Monster Squad afterwards. I think he wrote a terrific film that was kind of a big put-on of '50s horror. And I had great lines in that movie!" ^[2]

Atkins has continued to act in both the thriller and police procedural genre. He is well known to movie goers for his role as Michael Hunsaker in the Richard Donner film Lethal Weapon (1987), which stars Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, and Gary Busey. In 1993 he took a role in Striking Distance (1993) alongside Bruce Willis, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Tom Sizemore. In television, Atkins reprised his role of Commander Diehl for a series of Rockford Files movies during the 1990s.^{[ citation needed ]}

Atkins is a frequent player in shows in the Pittsburgh theatre scene, most famously in the one-man show The Chief at Pittsburgh Public Theater, in which he depicted the late founder of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Art Rooney. Also at the Public, he played the title role in Macbeth , opposite Jean Smart as Lady Macbeth and Keith Fowler as Macduff. He was the star of A Musical Christmas Carol at the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, portraying the character of Ebenezer Scrooge. He appeared on Broadway in David Storey's The Changing Room , for which he received the 1973 Drama Desk Award for Most Promising Performer.

In 2009, he had a supporting role as a retired sheriff in the remake My Bloody Valentine 3D ^[4] and co-starred with Nicolas Cage in Todd Farmer's Drive Angry , in 2011; both films are directed by Patrick Lussier. ^[5]

In the 2018 sci-fi movie Encounter , he was Professor Westlake, who studied the biology of the alien lifeform.

Selected filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Director	Notes	Reference(s)
1968	The Detective	Harmon	Gordon Douglas		[6] [7]
1970	Where's Poppa?	Policeman in Apartment	Carl Reiner		[6] [7]
1970	The Owl and the Pussycat	Kid in Car	Herbert Ross	Uncredited	[6] [7]
1976	Special Delivery	Cop On Beat	Paul Wendkos		[6] [7]
1977	Tarantulas: The Deadly Cargo	Buddy	Stuart Hagmann	Made-for-TV Movie	[6] [7]
1980	The Fog	Nick Castle	John Carpenter		[6] [7]
1980	The Ninth Configuration	Sergeant Krebs	William Peter Blatty		[7]
1981	Escape from New York	Captain Rehme	John Carpenter		[6] [7]
1982	Creepshow	Stan	George A. Romero	(segments "Prologue" / "Epilogue"), Uncredited	[6] [7]
1982	Halloween III: Season of the Witch	Dr. Dan Challis	Tommy Lee Wallace		[6] [7]
1985	The New Kids	"Mac" MacWilliams	Sean S. Cunningham		[7]
1986	Night of the Creeps	Ray Cameron	Fred Dekker		[6] [7]
1987	Lethal Weapon	Michael Hunsaker	Richard Donner		[6] [7]
1988	Lemon Sky	Douglas	Jan Egleson		[6] [7]
1988	Maniac Cop	Detective Frank McCrae	William Lustig		[6] [7]
1990	Two Evil Eyes	Detective Grogan	George A. Romero, Dario Argento	(segment "The Facts in the Case of Mr. Valdemar")	[6] [7]
1992	Bob Roberts	Dr. Caleb Menck	Tim Robbins		[6] [7]
1993	Striking Distance	Sergeant Fred Hardy	Rowdy Herrington		[6] [7]
2000	Bruiser	Detective McCleary	George A. Romero		[6] [7]
2001	Out of the Black	Eugene Carter	Karl Kozak		[7]
2002	Turn of Faith	Charlie Ryan	Charles Jarrott
2009	My Bloody Valentine 3D	Sheriff Jim Burke	Patrick Lussier		[6] [7]
2009	Shannon's Rainbow	Captain Martin	Frank E. Johnson		[7]
2009	Trapped	Detective Abbott	Ron Hankison, Gavin Rapp		[7]
2010	The Chief	Art Rooney Sr.	Steve Parys		[7]
2011	Drive Angry	Captain	Patrick Lussier		[6] [7]
2011	Arriving at Night	Phil Redman	Andrew Ford	Short Film
2013	Fantasm	Himself	Kyle Kuchta	Documentary	[7]
2014	Apocalypse Kiss	Captain John Vogle	Christian Grillo		[7]
2014	Judy's Dead	Roy	Dave Rodkey
2015	Smoke and Mirrors: The Story of Tom Savini	Himself	Jason Baker	Documentary	[7] [8]
2018	Encounter	Professor Westlake	Paul Salamoff		[7]
2019	Trick	Talbott	Patrick Lussier		[7] [9]
2020	Polybius	Sheriff Atkins	Jimmy Kelly	Short film	[10]
2022	Final Summer	George Klug	John Isberg	Pre-production
TBA	The Collected	Clu	Marcus Dunstan	Announced	[11]

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Reference(s)
1963	The Doctors	Dylan Levein	Episode: "December 9, 1963"
1964	Look Up and Live	Doctor	Episode: "A Lifetime of Service"
1974	Get Christie Love!	Peterson	Episode: "Market for Murder"
1974	Rhoda	Vic Rhodes	Episode: "Pop Goes the Question"
1974	Harry O	Sergeant Frank Cole	5 episodes
1975	Miles to Go Before I Sleep	O'Dell	Television film	[7]
1975	Shell Game	Stoker Frye	Television film	[6] [7]
1975	The Rookies	Brad Gifford	Episode: "Lamb to the Slaughter"
1975	Hawaii Five-O	Koko Apaleka	Episode: "Sing a Song of Suspense"
1976	Visions	Robert Dayka	Episode: "Pennsylvania Lynch"
1976–1977	Serpico	Lieutenant Tom Sullivan	16 episodes	[6] [7]
1974–1977	The Rockford Files	Lieutenant Alex Diel	8 episodes	[7]
1977	Baretta	Vic	Episode: "It Goes with the Job"
1977	Tarantulas: The Deadly Cargo	Buddy	Television film
1978	A Death in Canaan	Lieutenant Bragdon	Television film	[6] [7]
1980	Skag	Dr. Moscone	Episode: "Pilot"	[6] [7]
1980	Power	Buck Buchanan	Television film	[7]
1981	Sherlock Holmes	Craigin	Television film	[7]
1979–1981	Lou Grant	Dr. Sorenson / Jim Bronsky / Frank Durning	3 episodes
1982	M*A*S*H	Major Lawrence Weems	Episode: "The Tooth Shall Set You Free"	[7]
1982	Desperate Lives	John Cameron	Television film	[7]
1982	Quincy, M.E.	Commander Gene Butler / John Todd	2 episodes	[7]
1982	Skeezer	Dr. Chanless	Television film	[7]
1983	St. Elsewhere	Bob Lonnicker	Episode: "Dog Day Hospital"	[7]
1983	Murder Me, Murder You	Jack Vance	Television film
1984	T.J. Hooker	Phil Parker / Tommy D'Amico	Episode: "Hooker's Run"	[7]
1985	The Fall Guy	George Spiros	Episode: "The Skip Family Robinson"	[7]
1986	Alfred Hitchcock Presents	Police Lieutenant	Episode: "Beast in View"
1986	Blind Justice	Kramer	Television film	[7]
1986	Stingray	Donald Dixon	Episode: "Sometimes You Gotta Sing the Blues"	[7]
1986	Spenser: For Hire	Hatch	Episode: "White Knight"	[7]
1986	The Equalizer	Demonstrator (uncredited)	Episode: "Pretenders"	[7]
1987	A Stranger Waits	Sheriff Collier	Television film	[6] [7]
1987	The Equalizer	Detective Frank Standish	Episode: "Blood & Wine"	[7]
1989	Dead Man Out	Burger	Television film	[7]
1989	The Heist	Detective Leland	Television film	[6] [7]
1990	Against the Law	Walter Littlefield	Episode: "Pilot"
1991	Cry in the Wild: The Taking of Peggy Ann	Jamieson	Television film	[6] [7]
1992	What She Doesn't Know	Roy	Television film	[6] [7]
1993	Sworn to Vengeance	Ed Barry	Television film	[6] [7]
1993	Walker, Texas Ranger	Wade Cantrell	Episode: "Night of the Gladiator"
1994	Fortune Hunter	Richard Bennett	Episode: "Target: Millennium"
1996	The Rockford Files: If the Frame Fits	Commander Alex Diehl	Television film	[6] [7]
1996	Xena: Warrior Princess	Atrius	Episode: "Ties That Bind"	[7]
1996	Dying to be Perfect: The Ellen Hart Pena Story	Henry Hart	Television film	[6] [7]
1998	Homicide: Life on the Street	Grenville Rawlins	Episode: "The Twenty Percent Solution"	[7]
1999	The Rockford Files: If It Bleeds ... It Leads	Commander Alex Diehl	Television film	[6] [7]
2003	Oz	Mayor Wilson Lowen	2 episodes	[7]
2003	Law & Order: Criminal Intent	Mr. Monahan	Episode: "Cold Comfort"
2004	The Jury	Boyd Kingman	Episode: "Mail Order Mystery"	[7]
2022	City on a Hill	Joe Congemi	2 episodes
2023	Creepshow	Frank	Episode: "Something Borrowed, Something Blue"	[12]

Self

Year	Title	Notes	Reference(s)
2006	Halloween: 25 years of Terror	Video Documentary
2007	Just Desserts: The Making of Creepshow	Video Documentary	[13]
2009	My Bloody Valentine: Sex, Blood and Screams – The Make-Up Effects	Video Documentary Short
2009	Thrill Me!: The Making of Night of the Creeps	Video Documentary
2009	Night of the Creeps: Tom Atkins, Man of Action	Video Documentary Short
2011	Doomed Detective: Tom Atkins on Maniac Cop	Video Documentary
2012	Stand Alone: The Making of Halloween III: Season of the Witch	Video Short
2016	Creepshow Days with Michael Gornick	Video Short
2016	Horror's Hallowed Grounds	Episode: "Creepshow"
2019	The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs	Episode: "Halloween Hootenanny: Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Meyers"
2019	In Search of Darkness	Documentary	[7]
2020	In Search of Darkness: Part II	Documentary	[7]

Archive footage

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Reference(s)
2011–2014	Cinemassacre's Monster Madness	Ray Cameron / Dr. Dan Challis	2 episodes
2014–2019	Welcome to the Basement	Ray Cameron / Sergeant Krebs	2 episodes

References

1. Matoney, Nick (November 22, 2022). "Two takes with Tom Atkins: Pittsburgh icon discusses Scrooge, scary movies and 'The Chief'". WTAE-TV . Archived from the original on August 22, 2024. Retrieved August 22, 2024.
2. Fallows, Tom, Tom Atkins Interview (Night of the Creeps), Classic-Horror Web Zine October 14, 2009.
3. "'Drive Angry' Casting That Will Surely "Thrill" You". February 25, 2010.
4. "Monster-Mania 14 Guest List Grows". DreadCentral. February 7, 2010. Retrieved July 31, 2016.
5. "Exclusive: Tom Atkins is BACK and Ready to Drive Angry". DreadCentral. February 25, 2010.
6. Turner Classic Movies. "Tom Atkins - Turner Classic Movies". Turner Classic Movies . Archived from the original on August 22, 2024. Retrieved August 22, 2024.
7. TV Guide. "Tom Atkins List of Movies and TV Shows - TV Guide". TV Guide . Archived from the original on August 22, 2024. Retrieved August 22, 2024.
8. Squires, John (November 21, 2019). "Documentary 'Smoke and Mirrors: The Story of Tom Savini' Streaming Exclusively on Shudder in December!". Bloody Disgusting . Archived from the original on August 22, 2024. Retrieved August 22, 2024.
9. Miska, Brad (September 5, 2019). "Tom Atkins, Omar Epps and Jamie Kennedy Starring in Todd Farmer and Patrick Lussier's 'Trick'". Bloody Disgusting . Archived from the original on August 22, 2024. Retrieved August 22, 2024.
10. Squires, John (January 14, 2019). "[Trailer] Tom Atkins is Back (and Yes, He's Playing a Sheriff) in Short Film 'Polybius'". Bloody Disgusting . Archived from the original on August 22, 2024. Retrieved August 22, 2024.
11. Squires, John (September 5, 2019). "[Exclusive] Tom Atkins in Talks for a Starring Role in Third Franchise Installment 'The Collected'". Bloody Disgusting . Archived from the original on August 22, 2024. Retrieved August 22, 2024.
12. Bolton, Cameron (August 21, 2023). "Shudder Unearths Creepshow Season 4 Trailer, Featuring the Return of Original Star Tom Atkins". MovieWeb . Archived from the original on August 22, 2024. Retrieved August 22, 2024.
13. Miska, Brad (October 13, 2023). "'Just Desserts: The Making of Creepshow' Is Now Streaming Exclusively on SCREAMBOX!". Bloody Disgusting . Archived from the original on August 22, 2024. Retrieved August 22, 2024.

External links

• Tom Atkins at IMDb
• Tom Atkins at the TCM Movie Database