Tom Atkins (born November 13, 1935) 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 Diehl 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,"
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."
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).
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!" and co-starred with Nicolas Cage in Todd Farmer's Drive Angry, in 2011; both films are directed by Patrick Lussier.
In the 2018 sci-fi movie Encounter, he was Professor Westlake, who studied the biology of the alien lifeform.
Selected filmography
Film
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! Director
! Notes
! Reference(s)
|-
| 1968
| The Detective
| Harmon
| Gordon Douglas
|
|
|-
| 1970
| Where's Poppa?
| Policeman in Apartment
| Carl Reiner
|
|
|-
| 2018
| Encounter
| Professor Westlake
| Paul Salamoff
|
|
|-
| 2020
| Polybius
| Sheriff Atkins
| Jimmy Kelly
| Short film
|
|-
| 2022
| Final Summer
| George Klug
| John Isberg
| Pre-production
|
|-
|
| The Collected
| Clu
| Marcus Dunstan
| Announced
|
|}
Television
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! 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
|
|}
Self
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Notes
! Reference(s)
|-
| 2006
| Halloween: 25 years of Terror
| Video Documentary
|
|-
| 2007
| Just Desserts: The Making of Creepshow
| Video Documentary
|
|-
| 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
|