Interview: James Tolkan is Principal Strickland in ‘Back to the Future’

Printer-friendly versionPrinter-friendly versionE-mail page to friendE-mail page to friendPDF versionPDF version
Average: 5 (1 vote)

CHICAGO – Whenever we hear the term “Slacker,” it does harken back to a certain movie called “Back to the Future.” And the actor that interpreted that famous invective is none other than veteran actor James Tolkan, portraying Principal Strickland.

Tolkan has played villains and authority figures throughout a career that began with a role on the TV show “Naked City” all the way back in 1960. Throughout that early era, Tolkan was splitting time between character parts in TV, film and the Broadway stage. At the same time, he was part of the famous Actor’s Studio during the high point of that legendary thespian school.

He became recognized for all time with two key roles in the 1980s. Principal Strickland, both 1985 and ‘55 versions, in the Back to the Future series, and as Commander “Stinger” Jordan in the unforgettable “Top Gun.”

Slackers Beware: James Tolkan Projects His Inner Strickland from ‘Back to the Future’
Slackers Beware: James Tolkan Projects His Inner Strickland from ‘Back to the Future’
Photo Credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com

HollywoodChicago.com talked to James Tolkan recently, right before he made appearances at the Hollywood Blvd Cinema (Woodridge, IL) and Hollywood Palms Cinema in Naperville, as part of a Back to the Future cast reunion. He reminisced about his most recognizable roles and the history of the Actor’s Studio.

HollywoodChicago.com: First I have to ask you the question that was asked but never answered in Back to the Future —- Did you ever have hair?

James Tolkan: [Laughs] Oh my goodness! You know, when I was in high school I had the most beautiful hair. The girls used to like to touch my hair, it was so soft. And then, by the time I was 17 years old I was losing my hair and it was tragic, it was so painful. [HC points to his chrome dome and exclaims, ‘I’m a fellow traveler]. Hah! But it was my best feature.

In 1965 I was doing a play on Broadway called ‘Wait Until Dark,’ with Lee Remick. And I had to shave my head in that. And that was the first time I shaved my head. Occasionally, I’d let it grow back, and then I’d get a part where I thought it was appropriate to have a shaved head. When we were doing the first Back to the Future, the guy in the make-up room said ‘listen, they want you to shave your head, what do you think?’ He followed that up with, ‘you’ll get more p*ssy.’ So I said, shave it, shave my head! [laughs] That’s a true story.

HC: Regarding the character of Principal Strickland. What was a straight character role in the first film became an expanded, rather surreal role in the subsequent sequels. How do you relate to Strickland as you played him, and which film did you have the most fun portraying him?

JT: I’m a character actor. And character acting is an extension of who you are in any direction. I could have easily gone through life being like Strickland. It’s in me to be that kind of a guy. So I just extended myself in that direction.

Back to the Future 3 was the most fun I had playing him [he played his grandfather]. But they were all fun in different respects. It was fun to put on the nice wig in the third one, that was cool.

HC: You’ve played several military roles in your career, most famously as Commander “Stinger” Jordan in “Top Gun.” What is different about interpreting a military authority as opposed to the other authority figures you’ve portrayed? Did it help that you actually served in the Navy?

JT: Absolutely it helped that I served in the Navy. And when you’re an authority figure, you can place it in any situation. It’s a bit more hard nose as a military man, and your spine is straighter and you’re a bit tougher, so you think.

HC: You were part of the famous Actors Studio in the 1950s? What was true about the experience and what do you think has been overblown as myth, especially in regards to instructors Lee Strasberg, Stella Adler and the group of legends that you studied with?

JT: I studied with Stella Adler for three years. Adler’s approach to acting is from the outside in. And Lee Strasberg’s approach is from the inside out. Stella’s approach is a much more healthier and happier approach to acting, for example, you can go to a museum and take a character out for a period piece. And you see how he stands and how he dresses, and you become the character.

But Lee had a more personal and private approach. More painful for people and painful for me. I remember he told Marilyn Monroe that we wanted to know her secrets. He wants to know everyone’s secrets. Can you imagine going through life speaking your thoughts? You can get in big trouble. But some of the things that were said in Lee’s classes were frightening, actually. But that is how he wanted us to get in touch with our true impulses. It was very personal.

HC: How big a deal was it to get into those classes back in those days?

JT: It was always a big deal to get into the actor’s studio. I was invited in as an observer at first, and then I became one of the favored people in the class who Lee and his wife Paula Strasberg asked to be in his production of ‘The Three Sisters’ on Broadway. It was a famous and wonderful production.

We also did it in London with George C. Scott. There the critics lambasted the production, opposite to New York where we were very well received. So George C. Scott was supposed to meet up with Ava Gardner and she didn’t show up. He was traveling with a guy who used to be a New York cop, and the guy had a gun. George wanted to get that gun and shoot everyone in Madrid [where he was to meet Gardner].

I got to the theater in London one night, and he wasn’t there, no George C. Scott. And Lawrence Olivier and his whole company was in the audience, and no Scott. And we didn’t have an understudy. But Robert Loggia understudied the part in New York City. So they talked him into going on carrying the book. So Olivier is in the audience, Loggia is carrying the book, and pretty soon the audience simply forgot that he was doing so. It was just a performance. I understudied Loggia, so I played his part. It was a very exciting night, and afterwards Olivier had a little party for us. He toasted us by paraphrasing Othello’s speech to the senate. [affecting an Olivier voice] ‘We are happy to have our American friends and I hope they bless our shores many a time and oft.’

Patrick McDonald and James Tolkan, February 25th, 2010
Patrick McDonald and James Tolkan, February 25th, 2010
Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com

HC: What was New York City like in your early theater days? Does it feel like there was more opportunity for an actor then than what you observe in the New York City of now?

JT: Yes, there was a lot more opportunity. I arrived in New York City from the University of Iowa in 1956. It was so different and wonderful for me. Back then they had cold water flats, my first apartment was on 92nd Street, and my rent for three rooms and steam heat was 25 dollars, 13 cents a month [laughs]. But I could live there without having to spend that much money, so while I studied I could get by with just a disability check from the government for my Naval service, which was 58 dollars a month.

New York has changed. It’s so hard for a young actor to arrive in the city and get going because every living space is at least 2000 dollars a month. I don’t know how anybody does it these days.

HC: I have to ask you about your Napolean role in Woody Allen’s ‘Love and Death.’ What type of director was Woody Allen in those early days? As a trained actor, did you enjoy his directorial style?

JT: Well his directorial style was very easy, I must say. At the same time I found him kind of pompous. I would say, ‘Woody Allen is an insecure little schmuck.’ [laughs] He was always coming on like ‘oh, I could be a great athlete, if I just had time to practice.’ Give me a break. But he was brilliant and could really make me laugh.

HC: If you could go back to your past like the movie, what would you tell that young man from the University of Iowa who just arrived in New York City?

JT: I would say look, if you really must be an actor, do it. But if there is anything else in life you might be happy doing, do that, because all of the ups and downs, the rejections and all that I went through. So I guess I would think twice before I told myself to go on and be an actor. [laughs]

The Hollywood Blvd Cinema in Woodridge, IL, and the Hollywood Palms in Naperville continues their series of stars introducing their films with Linda Blair (”The Exorcist”), Traci Lords (”Cry-Baby”), Richard Chamberlin (”The Four Musketeers”) and the reunited cast of “West Side Story.”
Click here for more information.

HollywoodChicago.com senior staff writer Patrick McDonald

By PATRICK McDONALD
Senior Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
pat@hollywoodchicago.com

© 2010 Patrick McDonald, HollywoodChicago.com

User Login

Free Giveaway Mailing

TV, DVD, BLU-RAY & THEATER REVIEWS

Advertisement



HollywoodChicago.com on Twitter

archive

HollywoodChicago.com Top Ten Discussions
referendum
tracker