Rip Torn

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Elmore Rual "Rip" Torn Jr. (1931-February 6, 1931-July 9, 2019) was an American actor and voice actor, with a career that spanned 60 years. Torn was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Marsh Turner in Cross Creek (1983).

He specializes in the role of Artie, the producer on The Larry Sanders Show, for which he was nominated for six Emmy Awards in 1996.

In addition, he received an American Comedy Award for Funniest Supporting Male in a Series and two CableACE Awards for his participation in the film.

Early life

Elmore Rual Torn Jr. was born in Temple, Texas, on February 6, 1931, the son of Elmore Rual "Tiger" Torn, Sr. and Thelma Mary Torn (née Spacek). The senior Elmore, an agriculturalist and economist, was a black-eyed peas fan, particularly as a New Year's Day tradition. Thelma was the aunt of actress Sissy Spacek. The family is of German, Austrian, and Czech/Moravian origins. Since his father, uncle, and a cousin used the word "ribp" in his family, the Torn family's family name has evolved. In 1948, Torn graduated from Taylor High School in Taylor, Texas.

Torn was a member of the Texas A&M University Corps of Cadets, although he graduated from the University of Texas, where he studied under Shakespeare professor B. Iden Payne, and was a member of Sigma Chi fraternity's Alpha Nu chapter. He spent his time in the United States Army after graduating.

Personal life

Torn was married three times and had six children and four grandchildren.

Ann Wedgeworth's first marriage lasted from 1956 to 1961. Danae Torn was their daughter.

Torn married Geraldine Page in 1963, and the pair remained married until her death in 1987. They had a daughter, actress Angelica Page, and twin sons, actor Tony Torn and Jon Torn (an associate professor of digital media and film at Northern Arizona University). Torn is apparently delighted that the doorbell of their New York townhouse read Torn Page.

In 1989, Torn married actress Amy Wright. Katie and Claire Torn had two children.

Torn was arrested on January 29, 2010 after breaking into the Litchfield Bancorp branch office in Lakeville, Connecticut. He was charged with unlawful possession of a firearms, unlawful holding a weapon while inebriated, first-degree murder, second-degree criminal trespassing, and third-degree criminal mischief. Torn, a resident of Lakeville, allegedly broke into the bank claiming it was his residence. His counsel told the judge that his client needed assistance with alcohol use and that he could begin treatment in New York right away. Torn was released on $100,000 bail.

Torn had to be tested for heroin use as a result of his release. Torn was denied special probation on August 11, 2010, which would have cleared his name of charges. Torn's criminal history and the unlawful use of a loaded weapon when inebriated, according to the judge, who is subject to a minimum one-year term. Torn pleaded guilty to reckless endangerment, unlawful trespass, criminal mischief, and unlawful holding of a pistol, and was given a two-and-a-half year suspended prison term and three years in probation on December 14, 2010.

Torn admitted that "I have some flaws in my make-up" when appearing in Studs Terkel's 1974 oral history book Working. Irascibility is a term used to describe something. I get irritated quickly. "I'm sorry for things that happen so quickly."

Torn struck director and actress Norman Mailer in the head with a hammer while filming Maidstone (1968). Mailer bit Torn's ear and they wrestled to the ground as the camera was rolling. Cast and crew members broke it down until it was broken up. In the film, the struggle is captured. Despite Torn's staging, the scene was clearly planned by the actors, the blood shed by both actors was real, and Torn was apparently outraged by Mailer's conduct.

Dennis Hopper pleaded defamation for a tale Hopper told on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in 1994. During the pre-production of the film Easy Rider (1969), Hopper said Torn pulled a knife on him. Torn was originally cast in the film but was replaced with Jack Nicholson after the incident, according to Hopper. Torn argued in his case that Hopper pulled the knife on him. Torn's favor was granted by a trial judge, but Hopper was not entitled to $475,000 in compensatory damages, finding that Hopper did not act with malice. Hopper was appealed. A California appellate court upheld the decision for compensatory damages on April 1, 1998, but reversed the decision on punitive damages, requiring Hopper to pay another $475,000.

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Career

Torn made his film debut in the 1956 film Baby Doll, before heading to Hollywood. Torn then studied at the Actors Studio in New York under Lee Strasberg, becoming a prolific stage actor, appearing in Tennessee Williams' play Sweet Bird of Youth's original cast and repriseing the role in the film and television adaptations. Torn later assisted his younger cousin Sissy Spacek in enrolling in the Actors Studio. He appeared in his first film, Blues For Mister Charlie, by James Baldwin. Baldwin and several close friends all played in the Civil Rights Movement from the '50s to the present, as Baldwin's biographer David Leeming relates.

Pork Chop Hill, one of Torn's earliest appearances, featured Gregory Peck's brother-in-law. Barry Mills, who appeared in A Face in the Crowd, had an uncredited role. In 1957, Torn portrayed Jody in a young episode of The Restless Gun. Steve Morgan appeared in "Number Twenty-Two" on Alfred Hitchcock Presents in 1957, and Ernie Walters, a recently released prisoner, appeared in the Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode "The Kiss-Off" in 1961. Torn appeared in the Breaking Point episode "Millions of Faces" after portraying Judas, the betrayer of Jesus in the 1961 epic film King of Kings. Torn appeared in The Eleventh Hour and in The Reporter's premiere in 1964 as Eddie Sanderson.

In an episode of The Lieutenant in 1963 and as a GI in a GI in a war episode, more military roles followed. The next year will be the end of the year.

In 1965, Slade, a wealthy New Orleans millionaire who beats Steve McQueen in a high stakes poker game, appeared in the film The Cincinnati Kid. Torn portrayed Colonel Royce in the episode "The Lorelei" of Twelve O'Clock High on television that year. In numerous subsequent films, he had appeared in various roles as a character actor. George Hanson's part of the film Easy Rider was written for Torn by Terry Southern, but Torn's biographer Lee Hill resigned from the project after co-director Dennis Hopper and he became embroiled in a bitter confrontation in a New York restaurant. Jack Nicholson starred Hanson in a career-launching role.

In 1972, Torn received rave accolades for his portrayal of a country and western singer in the cult film Payday. In the 1976 science-fiction film From Stone to Earth, he co-starred with singer David Bowie. In 1976's The Seduction of Joe Tynan, opposite Alan Alda and Meryl Strick Pony, and a music producer in Paul Simon's 1980 film One-Trick Pony, he portrayed a Southern senator.

Torn appeared in The Beastmaster, a sword-and-sorcery film from 1982, as the leader of a black magic cult group. He co-starred in Jinxed!, Bette Midler's comedy, and appeared as an airline executive in Airplane II: The Sequel. In the 1984 thriller Flashpoint, he appeared as a sheriff opposite Treat Williams and Kris Kristofferson. Torn was nominated for Best Support Actor in 1983's Cross Creek as a poor neighbor of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings in Florida's orange groves. In the 1984 Showtime production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, he was nominated for the CableACE Award for his portrayal of Big Daddy. In the 1985 film Summer Rental, he co-starred with John Candy as a man who helps a tourist win a sailboat race. In Extreme Prejudice, he appeared in a brief role as Sheriff Hank Pearson.

He began directing with The Telephone in 1988. Terry Southern and Harry Nilsson wrote the screenplay, and Hawkeye's company produced the film. The tale, which concerned an unhinged, out-of-work actor, had been written with Robin Williams in mind. Whoopi Goldberg expressed a keen interest in the story, but Torn was reportedly forced to contend with Goldberg's constant digression and improvising, and he had to plead with her to perform.

Goldberg was bolstered by the studio, which also allowed her to replace Torn's selected DP, veteran cinematographer John A. Alonzo, with her husband. Torn, Southern, and Nilsson produced their own version of the film, utilizing the script's lines, but the studio put together a rival version that was poorly reviewed when it premiered in January 1988.

In 1990, he portrayed Colonel Fargo in By Dawn's Early Light, a HBO film about a fictional world war. In Defending Your Life, Dennis Brooks played Albert Brooks' character's celestial defense advocate. In an episode of Columbo that year, "Death Hits the Jackpot" was a jeweler who murdered his own nephew to rob a winning lottery ticket. In 1993, Torn portrayed the OCP CEO in RoboCop 3 and starred opposite Tantoo Cardinal in Where the Rivers Flow North. This year, Torn appeared as the owner of a fictional battery company in a string of Energizer commercials in which the owner of a competitor battery firm recruits a crew of a competitor battery company to assault the Energizer Bunny and ban the competition. In 1996, he was a naval officer presiding over a wargame in the Kelsey Grammer submarine comedy Down Periscope.

Torn appeared in the Disney film Hercules in 1997, in which he played the god Zeus. Torn appeared in the 1997 hit film Men in Black starring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, a role he reprised in the 2002 sequel Men in Black II. In the comedy film Freddy Got Fingered, Torn portrayed James "Jim" Brody in 2001. Patches O'Houlihan, the legendary wrench-to-ssing coach in DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story, 2004.

Torn appeared in ten Broadway plays and directed one. He made his Broadway debut in 1959 as he played Tom Junior in Sweet Bird of Youth, for which he received a Theatre World Award and a Tony Award nomination.

Carlo was backstage in 1962 in the film Daughter of Silence as Carlo, following that with a part in the 1963 production of Strange Interlude. He appeared in Mister Charlie's 1964 debut as Lyle Britten, and four years later, he was Roberto in The Cuban Thing for its sole appearance on September 24, 1968.

He performed Edgar in Dance of Death in 1971 and directed his first Broadway performance, Look Away, in 1973. He portrayed Son in the Broadway revival of The Glass Menagerie in 1975, and Don in Mixed Couples portrayed him five years later. Torn was out of Broadway for 13 years, but she reprised in 1993 to play Chris Christopherson in Anna Christie. Torn portrayed Will Kidder in The Young Man From Atlanta in his last Broadway appearance in 1997.

In the play Desire Under the Elms, Torn made his off-Broadway debut as Eben Cabot, followed by Peter in The Kitchen at the 81st Street Theatre. Marion-Faye-A-Pimp in The Deer Park, England, received the 1967 Obie Award for Outstanding Achievement in his third off-Broadway role. He appeared at the Lucille Lortel Theatre in the play Dream of a Blacklisted Actor, and later at the Joseph Papp Public Theater's Anspacher Theater in Barbary Shore as William McLeod. Henry Hackamore, a play in Two Acts by Sam Shepard, appeared off-Broadway at the American Place Theatre for the final time.

Torn's off-Broadway debut as director of The Beard was a 1968 Obie Award for that role. He directed The Honest-to-God Schnozzia at the Gramercy Arts Theater, then followed by August Strindberg's Creditors and The Stronger, in which he appeared alongside his wife at the time, Geraldine Page for the Joseph Papp Public Theater. Torn and Page co-produced the play, and they had previously performed with Miss Julie at the off-Broadway Hudson Guild Theatre the year before.

Torn appeared in The Larry Sanders Show from 1992 to 1998. Torn was nominated for six straight Emmy Awards as Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series, and he received the honor in 1996. Torn was the only actor in the series to win an Emmy Award for his work. In addition to the Emmy nominations and win, he received two American Comedy Awards for Funny Male Performance in a Series, winning twice and two CableACE Awards for his work on the series.

Torn appeared in numerous comedic roles in films since The Larry Sanders Exhibition. He was also known for his voice and did voice-overs for several animated films.

Don Geiss, the fictional chief executive officer of GM, appeared on 30 Rock in 2007 and 2008. He was nominated for an Emmy Award in the category of Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series, but Tim Conway, who appeared in the same sitcom, was nominated for the same award. Torn's character was reportedly destroyed as a result of his 2010 detention, according to Tina Fey's DVD commentary, but she denied this. In the 2010 video game God of War III, Torn played Hephaestus.

Torn also appears in the music video for their 2011 album Join Us.

With rugby player Israel Dagg and singer Stan Walker, he reprised his role as Zed in a Men in Black safety video for Air New Zealand in 2015.

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