| Rip Torn  AKA Elmore Rual Torn, Jr.
Born: 6-Feb-1931
Birthplace: Temple, TX
Died: 9-Jul-2019
Location of death: Lakeville, CT
Cause of death: unspecified
Gender: Male
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Actor Nationality: United States
Executive summary: Arthur on The Larry Sanders Show Military service: US Army Rip Torn is an craggy-faced character actor. He is best known as Artie, the suck-up producer on The Larry Sanders Show, but Torn has been a familiar presence in American movies for almost 50 years. He is a cousin of actress Sissy Spacek.
He was born Elmore Rual Torn, but for obvious reasons friends nicknamed him Rip. He studied animal husbandry at Texas A&M and the University of Texas, and went into acting hoping to save enough money to buy a small ranch. Torn hitchhiked to Hollywood, where he was soon doing odd jobs to pay the rent, but he started landing small roles on TV dramas like The Alcoa Hour and Kraft Television Theater. He studied acting under Lee Strasberg at the Actor's Studio, and had bit parts in a couple of well-regarded late-1950s flicks, Baby Doll and A Face in the Crowd. With a key role in the war crime trial drama Time Limit (the only film directed by Karl Malden), Torn became a respected character actor.
He played Judas in King of Kings, Henry Miller in Tropic of Cancer, a shady anesthesiologist in Coma, a perfectly sleazy Richard M. Nixon in Blind Ambition, a boffo Ronald Reagan in Airplane 2, Albert Brooks's attorney in Defending Your Life, MIB Chief Zed in Men in Black, and a wrench-tossing coach in Dodgeball.
In 1994, Torn sued Dennis Hopper after Hopper went on The Tonight Show and told Jay Leno an anecdote from almost 30 years earlier. As Hopper told it, Torn had auditioned for the role of a pot-smoking lawyer in Easy Rider in 1969, and almost had the part, but when Torn and Hopper went to dinner, they argued and Torn pulled a knife on Hopper. In his lawsuit, Torn agreed on most of the details, but said that it was Hopper who'd pulled a knife on Torn. A judge heard from both sides, and from witnesses who's been at the restaurant, and decided that Hopper's testimony -- or memory -- was wrong. Torn got $475,000 from Hopper, and when Hopper appealed, another judge doubled the award.
He was arrested for drunk driving in 2004, 2006, and 2008, and charged in January 2010 with breaking into a Connecticut bank while carrying a loaded but unregistered handgun. His defense was that he was so drunk, he mistook the bank for his own home. Wife: Ann Wedgeworth (actress, m. 1956, div. 1961, one daughter)
Daughter: Danae Torn (actress)
Wife: Geraldine Page (actress, m. 1961, d. 1987)
Daughter: Angelica Torn (actress)
Son: Tony Torn (artistic director)
Son: John Torn
Girlfriend: Amy Wright
Daughter: Claire
High School: Tayler High School, Taylor, TX (1949)
University: Texas A&M University
Sigma Chi Fraternity
Freemasonry raised 2005
Driving While Intoxicated Greenwich Village, NY (13-Jan-2004)
Driving While Intoxicated North Salem, NY (4-Dec-2006)
Driving While Intoxicated Salisbury, CT (12-Dec-2008)
Breaking and Entering Salisbury, CT (29-Jan-2010) pled guilty
Burglary Salisbury, CT (29-Jan-2010) charge dropped
Criminal Mischief Salisbury, CT (29-Jan-2010) pled guilty
Unlawful Possession of a Firearm Salisbury, CT (29-Jan-2010) pled guilty
Trespassing Salisbury, CT (29-Jan-2010) pled guilty
People with Funny Names
Risk Factors: Smoking, Alcoholism
TELEVISION
The Larry Sanders Show Arthur (1992-98)
FILMOGRAPHY AS DIRECTOR
The Telephone (22-Jan-1988)
FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
The Legend of Awesomest Maximus (5-Aug-2011)
American Cowslip (24-Jul-2009) · Trevor
Happy Tears (11-Feb-2009) · Joe
August (22-Jan-2008)
The Golden Boys (3-Nov-2007) · Capt. Jeremiah Burgess
Bee Movie (28-Oct-2007) [VOICE]
Turn the River (17-Oct-2007) · Quinette
Three Days to Vegas (2007) · Joe Wallace
Zoom (11-Aug-2006)
Marie Antoinette (24-May-2006) · Louis XV
Yours, Mine and Ours (23-Nov-2005) · Commandant Sherman
The Sisters (23-Apr-2005) · Dr. Chebrin
Forty Shades of Blue (2005) · Alan James
Eulogy (15-Oct-2004)
Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (18-Jun-2004)
Welcome to Mooseport (20-Feb-2004) · Bert
Rolling Kansas (24-Jan-2003)
Love Object (2003) · Novak
Men in Black II (26-Jun-2002) · Zed
Freddy Got Fingered (18-Apr-2001)
Wonder Boys (22-Feb-2000)
The Insider (5-Nov-1999)
The Almost Perfect Bank Robbery (22-Sep-1998)
Senseless (20-Feb-1998) · Randall Tyson
Men in Black (2-Jul-1997) · Zed
Hercules (14-Jun-1997) [VOICE]
Trial and Error (30-May-1997) · Benny Gibbs
Down Periscope (1-Mar-1996) · Adm. Winslow
For Better or Worse (18-Feb-1996)
How to Make an American Quilt (6-Oct-1995) · Arthur
Canadian Bacon (22-Sep-1995) · Gen. Dick Panzer
Heart of a Child (9-May-1994)
Heaven & Hell: North & South, Book III (27-Feb-1994)
Robocop 3 (7-Jul-1993) · The CEO
Where the Rivers Flow North (1993)
Dead Ahead: The Exxon Valdez Disaster (12-Dec-1992)
Dolly Dearest (Jan-1992) · Karl Resnick
Beyond the Law (1992)
My Son Johnny (10-Nov-1991)
Another Pair of Aces: Three of a Kind (9-Apr-1991) · Capt. Jack Parsons
Defending Your Life (22-Mar-1991)
By Dawn's Early Light (19-May-1990)
Beautiful Dreamers (1990)
Sweet Bird of Youth (1-Oct-1989)
Cold Feet (19-May-1989) · Sheriff
Hit List (3-Mar-1989)
April Morning (24-Apr-1988) · Solomon Chandler
Nadine (7-Aug-1987) · Buford Pope
Extreme Prejudice (24-Apr-1987)
Beer (30-Aug-1985) · Buzz Beckerman
Summer Rental (9-Aug-1985) · Scully
The Atlanta Child Murders (10-Feb-1985)
The Execution (14-Jan-1985)
City Heat (7-Dec-1984)
Songwriter (14-Oct-1984)
Flashpoint (31-Aug-1984) · Sheriff Wells
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (19-Aug-1984) · Big Daddy
Misunderstood (30-Mar-1984)
Cross Creek (May-1983)
Airplane II: The Sequel (10-Dec-1982) · Kruger
The Blue and the Gray (14-Nov-1982)
Jinxed! (22-Oct-1982) · Harold Benson
The Beastmaster (20-Aug-1982)
A Stranger Is Watching (22-Jan-1982)
First Family (25-Dec-1980)
Sophia Loren: Her Own Story (26-Oct-1980)
One Trick Pony (3-Oct-1980)
Heartland (Feb-1980)
The Seduction of Joe Tynan (17-Aug-1979) · Sen. Kittner
Blind Ambition (20-May-1979)
Coma (6-Jan-1978) · Dr. George
The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover (Dec-1977)
Nasty Habits (10-Oct-1977)
The Man Who Fell to Earth (28-May-1976) · Nathan Bryce
Birch Interval (2-May-1976)
Attack on Terror: The FBI vs. the Ku Klux Klan (20-Feb-1975)
Crazy Joe (15-Feb-1974)
Slaughter (16-Aug-1972)
Payday (1972)
Tropic of Cancer (27-Feb-1970)
Maidstone (1970)
Coming Apart (26-Oct-1969)
Sol Madrid (7-Feb-1968)
Beyond the Law (1968)
Beach Red (3-Aug-1967)
You're a Big Boy Now (9-Dec-1966)
One Spy Too Many (28-Feb-1966)
The Cincinnati Kid (15-Oct-1965) · Slade
Critic's Choice (13-Apr-1963) · Dion Kapakos
Hero's Island (13-Jul-1962) · Nicholas Gates
Sweet Bird of Youth (21-Mar-1962) · Thomas J. Finley, Jr.
King of Kings (11-Oct-1961) · Judas
Pork Chop Hill (29-May-1959) · Lt. Russel
Time Limit (23-Oct-1957) · Lt. Miller
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