Actor Tom Skerritt, star of 'Alien' and 'Top Gun,' dies at 93

🗞️ Story file #835

Actor Tom Skerritt, star of 'Alien' and 'Top Gun,' dies at 93

Oct 22, 4 PM ET to Oct 24, 7 PM ET

24outlets carried it
🫏12 · 4 · 8🐘left · center · right
2.1 dayson the front pages
24front pages at once, at its peak
3radio newscasts
8people retold it online

👣 How this story traveled: from the front pages that broke it, out through TV, radio and the shows, into what people retold and what fact-checkers examined, and on into the saga it is part of. Everything here is matched to the story by our tools, so a link can be wrong; the trackers' pages say how each is made.

Oct 22, 4 PM ETfirst on a front page: Rolling Stone
Oct 22, 6 PM ETfirst on the radio: ABC News Update
Oct 23, 12 PM ETpeak: on 24 front pages
Oct 24, 8 AM ETretold online by 8 people

the front pages that ran it, hour by hour

Front pages carrying it at each hourly run, Oct 22, 4 PM to Oct 24, 7 PM ET (peak 24), by the outlets' lean: left · center · right

Who carried it and when: each outlet in the order it picked the story up, a bar for each headline from when we first saw it on the front page to when we last did, in the outlet's lean color (dashed: not rated); a dot marks a new headline. Beneath, its captions on TV, the radio newscasts that carried it (bigger: the lead) and when people were found retelling it. Hover for details.

📌 linked by aggregators: Google News

💬 quoted: “Alien” 5 “Top Gun” 5 “Picket Fences,” “Top Gun,” 7 “M*A*S*H” “Steel Magnolias” 2

🗣️ only one side says: 🐘 picket fences

✏️ 5 outlets ran more than one headline on it (reworded, or a follow-up)

BBC (3 wordings): “US actor Tom Skerritt, who starred in Picket Fences, Mash and Alien, dies aged 93” → “US actor Tom Skerritt, star of Top Gun, Steel Magnolias and Alien, dies aged 93”
New York Post (2 wordings): “Tom Skerritt, ‘Top Gun’ and ‘Steel Magnolias’ actor, dead at 93” → “‘Top Gun’ and ‘Steel Magnolias’ actor dead at 93”
New York Times (2 wordings): “Tom Skerritt, Who Had Key Roles in ‘M*A*S*H,’ ‘Alien’ and ‘Steel Magnolias,’ Has Died” → “Tom Skerritt, Who Had Key Roles in ‘Picket Fences’ and ‘Top Gun,’ Dies at 93”
Rolling Stone (2 wordings): “Obituary Tom Skerritt, ‘Alien’ and ‘Picket Fences’ Actor, Dead at 93” → “Tom Skerritt, ‘Alien’ and ‘M*A*S*H’ Star, Dies at 93 3 hours ago”
The Independent (2 wordings): “Top Gun star Tom Skerritt dies aged 93” → “Tom Skerritt: Top Gun and Picket Fences actor dies aged 93”

Every outlet's first headline (24), left to right by AllSides rating

Rolling Stone Obituary Tom Skerritt, ‘Alien’ and ‘Picket Fences’ Actor, Dead at 93 Oct 22, 4 PM ET
The Daily Beast ‘Top Gun’ Actor Dies at 93 Oct 22, 6 PM ET
The Guardian Tom Skerritt, Alien and Top Gun actor, dies aged 93 Oct 22, 5 PM ET
ABC News Veteran actor Tom Skerritt dies at 93 Oct 22, 4 PM ET
CBS News Tom Skerritt, known for roles in "Alien," "Picket Fences," dies at 93 Oct 22, 4 PM ET
Los Angeles Times Tom Skerritt, Emmy-winning actor known for ‘Picket Fences,’ ‘Alien’ and ‘Top Gun,’ dies at 93 Oct 22, 5 PM ET
NBC News Tom Skerritt, star of ‘Alien’ and ‘Top Gun,’ dies at 93 Oct 23, 1 AM ET
NPR Actor Tom Skerritt, who played dads, cops and commanding officers, has died Oct 22, 5 PM ET
New York Times Tom Skerritt, Who Had Key Roles in ‘M*A*S*H,’ ‘Alien’ and ‘Steel Magnolias,’ Has Died Oct 22, 4 PM ET
PBS NewsHour Tom Skerritt, Emmy-winning actor with roles in 'Alien', 'Top Gun' and 'Picket Fences,' dies at 93 Oct 22, 8 PM ET
The Independent Top Gun star Tom Skerritt dies aged 93 Oct 22, 4 PM ET
USA Today 'Alien' and 'Top Gun' star Tom Skerritt dies at 93 Oct 22, 4 PM ET
BBC US actor Tom Skerritt, who starred in Picket Fences, Mash and Alien, dies aged 93 Oct 22, 4 PM ET
Chicago Tribune Tom Skerritt, Emmy-winning actor with roles in ‘Picket Fences,’ ‘Alien’ and ‘Top Gun,’ dies at 93 Oct 22, 4 PM ET
News Nation Tom Skerritt, Emmy-winning actor with roles in 'Picket Fences,' 'Alien,' dies at 93 Oct 22, 4 PM ET
Reuters Actor Tom Skerritt, star of 'Alien' and 'Top Gun,' dies at 93 Oct 22, 5 PM ET
Just the News Emmy award-winning actor Tom Skerritt of 'Alien' and 'Picket Fences' fame dies at 93 Oct 22, 11 PM ET
The Epoch Times Emmy-Winning Actor Tom Skerritt of ‘Alien’ and ‘Top Gun’ Dies at Age 93 Oct 22, 7 PM ET
Breitbart Tom Skerritt, Star of ‘Alien,’ ‘Top Gun,’ ‘Picket Fences,’ Dies at 93 Oct 22, 7 PM ET
IJR Actor Tom Skerritt, ‘Alien’ and ‘Top Gun’ Star, Dies at 93 Oct 22, 6 PM ET
New York Post Tom Skerritt, ‘Top Gun’ and ‘Steel Magnolias’ actor, dead at 93 Oct 22, 4 PM ET
Newsmax Actor Tom Skerritt, 'Alien,' 'Top Gun' Star, Dies at 93 Oct 23, 12 PM ET
The Daily Caller ‘Top Gun’ Star Dead At 93 Oct 22, 6 PM ET
The Gateway Pundit JUST IN: Top Gun Star Tom Skerritt Has Passed Away Oct 22, 5 PM ET

TV, radio, and the shows that talked about it

📻 On the radio

NPR News Now, Oct 23, 3:10 AM ET: story 6 of 6
NPR News Now, Oct 22, 11:10 PM ET: story 5 of 6
ABC News Update, Oct 22, 6:32 PM ET: story 3 of 3

what people online made of it

🧶 Retold online

Actor Tom Skerritt has died at age 93. Oct 24: told by 8 people
🦋 Widely seen on Bluesky

🦋 a post on Bluesky · 14 likes, 1 reposts
🦋 a post on Bluesky · 11 likes, 1 reposts

On Folklore: the latest in full, with their motifs and who is telling them.

🗣️ names in it: Tom Skerritt Alien Picket Fences Top Gun Steel Magnolias

what the fact-checkers looked into

🧐 No fact-checker has taken it on yet.

the running story it belongs to

🌱 A story of its own so far: no saga yet.