At 88, Tom Skerritt Finally Gets a Starring Role in ‘East of the Mountains’

In a 60-year career that’s seen him turn up in key supporting roles in hits like “Alien,” “Top Gun,” and “M*A*S*H*,” Tom Skerritt finally gets a starring role in a movie.The acclaimed actor is front-and-center in “East of the Mountains,” playing a retired heart surgeon who keeps his terminal cancer diagnosis a secret from his daughter and bottles up his emotions after the death of his wife.

He drives into the Cascade Mountains of Washington, alone except for his dog and a shotgun, determined to take his own life while he’s out in the wilderness.

Soon into the fateful journey, his car breaks down and strands him, but the kindness of strangers and memories of his childhood rescue him in more ways than one.

The film was an endurance test for the 88-year old Skerritt.

It’s also, amazingly, the first time the character actor has played

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