
James Tolkan
Actor · 1931 – 2026 · Calumet, Michigan, USA
Fiery, forceful and intimidating character actor James Tolkan 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).
Movies24
Movie8.3AdventureComedyEighties teenager Marty McFly is accidentally sent back in time to 1955, inadvertently disrupting his parents' first meeting and attracting his mother's romantic interest. Marty must repair the damage to history by rekindling his parents' romance and - with the help of his eccentric inventor friend Doc Brown - return to 1985.
Back to the Future
1985 · 22K votes
Movie7.8AdventureComedyMarty and Doc are at it again as the time-traveling duo head to 2015 to nip some McFly family woes in the bud. But things go awry thanks to bully Biff Tannen and a pesky sports almanac. In a last-ditch attempt to set things straight, Marty finds himself bound for 1955 and face to face with his teenage parents -- again.
Back to the Future Part II
1989 · 14K votes
Movie7.1ActionDramaFor Lieutenant Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell and his friend and co-pilot Nick 'Goose' Bradshaw, being accepted into an elite training school for fighter pilots is a dream come true. But a tragedy, as well as personal demons, will threaten Pete's dreams of becoming an ace pilot.
Top Gun
1986 · 9.9K votes
Movie7.5AdventureComedyThe final installment finds Marty digging the trusty DeLorean out of a mineshaft and looking for Doc in the Wild West of 1885. But when their time machine breaks down, the travelers are stranded in a land of spurs. More problems arise when Doc falls for pretty schoolteacher Clara Clayton, and Marty tangles with Buford Tannen.
Back to the Future Part III
1990 · 11K votes
Movie7.1DramaScience FictionHigh school student David Lightman has a talent for hacking. But while trying to hack into a computer system to play unreleased video games, he unwittingly taps into the Department of Defense's war computer and initiates a confrontation of global proportions. Together with his friend and a wizardly computer genius, David must race against time to outwit his opponent and prevent a nuclear Armageddon.
WarGames
1983 · 2.3K votes
Movie6.9DramaHorrorDuring a shootout in a saloon, Sheriff Hunt injures a suspicious stranger. The doctor's assistant, wife of the local foreman, tends to him in prison. That night, the town is attacked and they both disappear—only the arrow of a cannibal tribe is found. Hunt and a few of his men go in search of the prisoner and the foreman's wife.
Bone Tomahawk
2015 · 2.6K votes
Movie5.9ActionFamilyWhen He-Man is driven from Eternia after Skeletor seizes Castle Grayskull, a stolen portal device strands the fight on Earth, where a pair of teenagers become entangled in a war that spans worlds.
Masters of the Universe
1987 · 1.2K votes
Movie7.5CrimeDramaNew York cop Frank Serpico blows the whistle on the rampant corruption in the force only to have his comrades turn against him.
Serpico
1973 · 2.3K votes
Movie6.0ComedyFamilyJunior and his father, Ben, move from Cold River to Mortville. Junior becomes threatened by Ben's desire to date again and find a new mother for Junior, and sabotages each of his dates.
Problem Child 2
1991 · 703 votes
Movie6.3HorrorGeorge Lutz, his wife Kathy, and their three children have just moved into a beautiful, and improbably cheap, Victorian mansion nestled in the sleepy coastal town of Amityville, Long Island. However, their dream home is concealing a horrific past and soon each member of the Lutz family is plagued with increasingly strange and violent visions and impulses.
The Amityville Horror
1979 · 1.1K votes
Movie6.2AdventureComedyThe comic strip detective finds his life vastly complicated when Breathless Mahoney makes advances towards him while he is trying to battle Big Boy Caprice's united mob.
Dick Tracy
1990 · 1.1K votes
Movie7.2DocumentaryFor over 40 years Val Kilmer, one of Hollywood's most mercurial and/or misunderstood actors, has been documenting his own life and craft through film and video. He has amassed thousands of hours of footage, from 16mm home movies made with his brothers, to time spent in iconic roles for blockbuster movies like Top Gun, The Doors, Tombstone, and Batman Forever. This raw, wildly original and unflinching documentary reveals a life lived to extremes and a heart-filled, sometimes hilarious look at what it means to be an artist and a complex man.
Val
2021 · 243 votes
Movie4.9DramaActionRed is an aging scam-artist who's just been released from prison together with Ronnie, a young and not-so-bright hoodlum who is easily manipulated. Their new business is to organize fake-money sales and then kill the buyer to take his money; but when Ronnie kills an undercover secret service agent, his partner Jimmy Mercer vows revenge and is given one week to catch the killers before being transferred.
Boiling Point
1993 · 136 votes
Movie5.7CrimeDramaJessie is an aging career criminal who has been in more jails, fights, schemes, and lineups than just about anyone else. His son Vito, while currently on the straight and narrow, has had a fairly shady past and is indeed no stranger to illegal activity. They both have great hope for Adam, Vito's son and Jessie's grandson, who is bright, good-looking, and without a criminal past.
Family Business
1989 · 291 votes
Movie6.9ComedyMysteryAfter the death of his wife, retired judge Justin Playfair creates a fantasy world for himself in which he is the legendary detective Sherlock Holmes, even dressing like the character. Out of concern for Justin's money more than his health, his brother Blevins puts him under the care of psychiatrist Dr. Mildred Watson. As Dr. Watson grows fond of Justin, she begins to play along with his theories, eventually becoming an assistant in his investigations.
They Might Be Giants
1971 · 60 votes
Movie5.3MysteryActionNaïve Michael Jordon is drawn into a web of government secrets when a girl carrying a mysterious package gets into a taxi with him. When she's later murdered, Michael becomes the chief suspect and goes on the run.
Hanky Panky
1982 · 72 votes
Movie6.0ComedyDramaA broadway playwright is burning the candle at both ends. He is dealing with pressure from a production nearing premiere, a wife who is leaving him, and 5 children 4 of which belong to her.
Author! Author!
1982 · 121 votes
Movie7.5ComedyRomanceIn czarist Russia, a neurotic soldier and his distant cousin formulate a plot to assassinate Napoleon.
Love and Death
1975 · 992 votes
Movie5.7ActionComedyAfter policeman Frank Dooley is framed for theft and loses his job on the force, he joins a security guard agency and teams up with inept former defense lawyer Norman Kane. When the two botch a job guarding a local warehouse, they begin to uncover corruption within the company and their union.
Armed and Dangerous
1986 · 220 votes
Movie7.0DramaThrillerNew York City detective Daniel Ciello agrees to help the United States Department of Justice eliminate corruption in the police department, as long as he will not have to turn in any close friends. In doing so, Ciello uncovers a conspiracy within the force to smuggle drugs to street informants.
Prince of the City
1981 · 189 votes
Movie6.4DramaTom and Mae Garvey are a Tennessee farming couple battling violent floods to save their land. In addition to natural disasters, the Garveys fight to stop a selfish land developer and a local corporation from foreclosing on their farm. While Mae stays at home to care for their children and tend to the crops, Tom finds work as a scab at a steel mill to preserve his family's property.
The River
1984 · 142 votes
Movie5.9HorrorThrillerA New York City cop and an expert criminologist trying to solve a series of grisly deaths in which the victims have seemingly been maimed by feral animals discover a sinister connection between the crimes and an old legend.
Wolfen
1981 · 264 votes
Movie6.2Science FictionA team of Arctic researchers find a 40,000 year-old man frozen in ice and bring him back to life. Anthropologist Dr. Stanley Shephard wants to befriend the Iceman and learn about the man's past while Dr. Diane Brady and her surgical team want to discover the secret that will allow man to live in a frozen state.
Iceman
1984 · 149 votes
Movie7.2CrimeDramaAn aging hood is about to go back to prison. Hoping to escape his fate, he supplies information on stolen guns to the feds, while simultaneously supplying arms to his bank robbing chums.
The Friends of Eddie Coyle
1973 · 219 votes
Series19
TV7.4CrimeDramaThe story of the Miami Police Department's vice squad and its efforts to end drug trafficking and prostitution, centered on the unlikely partnership of Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs - who first meet when Tubbs is undercover in a drug cartel.
Miami Vice
1984 · 541 votes
TV7.6DramaCrimeA realistic glimpse into the daily lives of the officers and detectives at an urban police station.
Hill Street Blues
1981 · 129 votes
TV7.1Action & AdventureCrimeRobert McCall is a former agent of a secret government agency who is now running his own private crime fighting operation where he fashions himself as "The Equalizer." It is a service for victims of the system who have exhausted all possible means of seeking justice and have nowhere to go. McCall promises to even out the odds for them.
The Equalizer
1985 · 69 votes
TV6.6DramaComedyAmerican Playhouse is an anthology television series periodically broadcast by Public Broadcasting Service in the United States.
American Playhouse
1982 · 8 votes
TV8.3ComedyDramaThe story of Kevin Arnold facing the trials and tribulations of youth while growing up during the 1960s and 70s. Told through narration from an adult Kevin, Kevin faces the difficulties of maintaining relationships and friendships on his enthralling journey into adulthood.
The Wonder Years
1988 · 1.1K votes
TV7.4DramaMysteryRaised in a secret facility built for experimenting on children, Jarod is a genius who can master any profession and become anyone he has to be. When he realizes as an adult that he's actually a prisoner and his captors are not as benevolent as he's been told, he breaks out. While trying to find his real identity, Jarod helps those he encounters and tries to avoid the woman sent to retrieve him.
The Pretender
1996 · 224 votes
TV7.1DramaFamilyLaura Holt, a licensed private detective, opens a detective agency but finds that potential clients refuse to hire a woman, however qualified. To solve the problem, Laura invents a fictitious male superior whom she names Remington Steele. Through a series of events that unfold in the first episode, "License to Steele," a former thief and con man, whose real name is never revealed, assumes the identity of Remington Steele. Behind the scenes, Laura remains firmly in charge.
Remington Steele
1982 · 147 votes
TV5.7DramaCrimeNaked City is a police drama series which aired from 1958 to 1963 on the ABC television network. It was inspired by the 1948 motion picture of the same name, and mimics its dramatic “semi-documentary” format. In 1997, the episode “Sweet Prince of Delancey Street” was ranked #93 on TV Guide’s “100 Greatest Episodes of All Time”.
Naked City
1958 · 13 votes
TV7.4Sci-Fi & FantasyDramaGary Hobson thinks he may even be losing his mind when tomorrow's newspaper mysteriously arrives today giving him a disconcerting look into the future. What will he do with tomorrow's news?
Early Edition
1996 · 173 votes
TV8.0ComedyMysteryCadaverous scream legend the Crypt Keeper is your macabre host for these forays of fright and fun based on the classic E.C. Comics tales from back in the day. So shamble up to the bar and pick your poison. Will it be an insane Santa on a personal slay ride? Honeymooners out to fulfill the "til death do we part" vow ASAP?
Tales from the Crypt
1989 · 1K votes
TV7.9ComedyFamilyWill, a street-smart teenager, moves from the tough streets of West Philly to posh Bel-Air to live with his Uncle Philip, Aunt Vivian, his cousins — spoiled Hilary, preppy Carlton and young Ashley — and their sophisticated British butler, Geoffrey. Though Will’s antics and upbringing contrast greatly with the upper-class lifestyle of his extended relatives, he soon finds himself right at home as a loved part of the family.
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
1990 · 2.5K votes
TV7.6DramaComedyA five-person team comprised of a thief, a grifter, a hacker, and a retrieval specialist, led by former insurance investigator Nathan Ford, use their skills to fight corporate and governmental injustices inflicted on ordinary citizens.
Leverage
2008 · 453 votes
TV8.0DramaComedyGenius detective Nero Wolfe and his right-hand man, Archie Goodwin, solve seemingly impossible crimes.
A Nero Wolfe Mystery
2001 · 28 votes
TV7.9Action & AdventureAnimationWalt Disney Productions has produced an anthology television series under several different titles since 1954. The original version of the series premiered on ABC, Wednesday night, October 27, 1954. The show, which was hosted by Walt Disney until his death and then from 1996 to 2002 by then-CEO Michael Eisner (with one-off hosts or no hosts during other periods) has since aired continually as either a weekly program or an irregular series of specials on several networks and streaming services, most recently on ABC and Disney+. The show is the second longest showing prime-time program on American television, behind its rival, Hallmark Hall of Fame. However, Hallmark Hall of Fame was a weekly program only during its first five seasons, while Disney remained a weekly program for more than forty years.
The Wonderful World of Disney
1954 · 36 votes
TV7.8MysteryDramaThomas Veil is a documentary photographer who, in the course of one evening, seemingly has his whole existence erased...
Nowhere Man
1995 · 38 votes
TV6.8DramaCrimeThe Hat Squad is a crime drama television series that ran for only one season on CBS, during the 1992–1993 season. 13 episodes were made, but only 11 of them aired.
The Hat Squad
1992 · 6 votes
TV6.6Action & AdventureCobra is an American action-adventure series broadcast in syndication from 1993 to 1994. Starring Michael Dudikoff as former Navy SEAL Robert 'Scandal' Jackson, who joins a secret crime-fighting organization. Despite a action-packed premise, it struggled to find an audience and was canceled after one season.
Cobra
1993 · 20 votes
TV7.3ComedyMary
1985 · 3 votes
TV9.0DramaA team of Los Angeles cops goes undercover posing as motorcycle bikers to nail street crime and other disorder in town.
Sunset Beat
1990 · 1 votes