Actor Rip Torn, known for his extensive presence on both screen and stage, has passed away Tuesday, at the age of 88.
Torn’s career spans nearly 200 film and television credits, having made his debut in 1956 with an uncredited role in Elia Kazan’s Baby Doll, followed by another uncredited appearance in Kazan’s A Face in the Crowd the following year. He began his stage career shortly after, studying under actor Lee Strasberg, and making his Broadway debut in Sweet Bird of Youth, coincidentally also directed by Kazan.
From the 1960’s through the 1980’s, Torn’s career was made up of countless supporting roles in many notable films. Some of his largest films include The Cincinnati Kid, King of Kings, and The Man Who Fell to Earth. He was prolific on stage through the 1960’s and 1970’s, appearing both in many Broadway and non-Broadway productions, but took a break from the stage after 1980 and focused strictly on a film career for this period of time, although he would return to the stage in 1993. During this time, he gained an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his work in 1984’s Cross Creek.
For modern audiences, one of Torn’s most recognizable roles was as Artie on the hit HBO show The Larry Sanders Show. Torn was a main part of the cast for all six seasons of Larry Sanders, which ran from 1992 to 1998, which earned him an Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1996. His two most notable film roles in the 1990’s both came in 1997, when he voiced the title character’s father Zeus in Disney’s Hercules, as well as appearing in Men in Black as Zed, the man in charge of the titular organization. Torn would reprise the latter role in the 2002 sequel.
Torn’s career continued well into the 2000’s, with supporting turns in Wonder Boys, Bee Movie, and Eulogy. His most notable role during this time period was in Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, where he portrayed Patches O’Houlihan, a former dodgeball legend who coached a team led by Vince Vaughn, constantly insulting them every step of the way, which gave way to many of the film’s most memorable quotes.
Torn also made a series of guest appearances on the hit NBC series 30 Rock from 2007 to 2009, and in 2010, he returned to the world of Greek mythology when he voiced a small role as the god Hephaestus in the video game God of War III. After 2010, Torn’s career slowed down immensely, with only a handful of small appearances including a cameo as an alien in Men in Black 3. While he did not get to reprise his role of Zed for that film, he did get to play the character one more time in a safety video for Air New Zealand in 2015. His final role was a guest voice role in the animated Comedy Central series TripTank in 2016.
Torn’s career spanned seven decades, with fans spanning many generations, all of whom will certainly remember his roles for many years to come.
Comments