[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 96 (Thursday, June 14, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1295]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 MR. TOM SKERRITT--PARTICIPANT CITIZEN

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. JIM McDERMOTT

                             of washington

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 14, 2007

  Mr. McDERMOTT. Madam Speaker, one of the great strengths of this 
country is the willingness of its people to give back. We each find our 
own way to be ``participant citizens.'' On the occasion of the honoring 
of his lifetime achievement by one of Seattle's great historic 
organizations, the Rainier Club, the people of the State of Washington 
would like to hold up as a national inspiration the special record of 
one of our State's most notable participant citizens, the distinguished 
and award-winning actor/director/writer and, just as proudly, teacher, 
Tom Skerritt.
  Thanks to Tom Skerritt and great artists like him, Seattle has become 
a great cutting edge in the forward movement of the performing arts. 
Its stage innovation has been recognized with Tony Award celebration, 
including for work in which he participated. And now, in little over 3 
years, Mr. Skerritt has created in Seattle a new approach to the 
teaching and doing of movie-making through his acclaimed the Film 
School.
  To find the artist, to find the teacher, first you find the man.
  Tom Skerritt's skills are matched by his unique and innate embodiment 
of the finest American traits of decency, humanity, strength, humor and 
integrity, as witness his starring performances in the deeply loved 
series ``Picket Fences,'' for which he won the Emmy among other honors, 
``M.A.S.H.,'' ``Alien,'' ``Top Gun,'' ``A River Runs Through It,'' 
``The Turning Point,'' ``Steel Magnolias,'' ``Contact,'' and the remake 
of ``High Noon.'' Who other than Tom Skerritt could have complemented 
the portrayal of stand-up American heroism first conveyed by Gary 
Cooper.
  Seattle and the State of Washington hold Tom Skerritt up to the 
Nation with pride because he is the kind of stand-up hero/humanist he 
so often and so powerfully portrays. This can best be illustrated by 
the last and least known of his hyphenated talents alluded to above: 
Tom Skerritt, teacher. His special brand of give-back to the country 
and people he loves is his unique ability to perpetuate and to inspire 
the study of that extraordinarily modem art form so influenced by its 
practice in America, motion pictures.
  One of the significant developments in movie-making in recent decades 
is that the heart of movie-making, so long associated with and 
conducted in Hollywood, has now spread out to other parts of the 
country. The American art form is now an all America art form. And few 
cities have taken a more active and creative part in this transition, 
this creative development and envelopment, than the area of Seattle.
  A key leader in this evolution has been that master of all movie 
trades, Tom Skerritt. He is most widely regarded as an actor par 
excellence, an Emmy winner and an artist of acclaim in film, on 
television, and on the stage. He has been active in passing his emotive 
skills to young performers. But it is his passion to teach motion 
picture creation innovatively that has won for his 3-year-old school, 
appropriately titled the Film School, a pre-eminence and a very special 
niche. Together with Oscar-winning writer Stuart Stem and such top-of-
their-craft creative artists as John Jacobsen, Warren Etheredge, and 
Rick Stevenson, Skerritt has made the Film School an institution of 
learning that has broken the mold and has set exciting new high bars 
for the teaching of film-making as the art of communicated ideas.
  The people of Seattle and the State of Washington celebrate Tom 
Skerritt as an example of how an artist or any person can devise his or 
her own special way to be a participant citizen. Tom Skerritt inspires 
each of us to find a personal way to pass along the fervor, dedication 
and skill that allows us to contribute to a better and more integrated 
society and to experience the joy of giving back to our country, our 
resident city and to the wisest application of our profession.
  Seattle proudly lays claim to an artist who is at the top of the role 
model list. Not just his genuine human depth and caring, but the 
brilliance and natural belief he brings to every one of his acclaimed 
performances. Thanks to Tom Skerritt and his associates in the Film 
School, Seattle is becoming a major center for instilling the skills of 
film art and the joy of that great American spawned art form.

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