Rip Torn, Veteran Actor and Larry Sanders Show Star, Dead at 88

Rip Torn whose seven-decade acting career spanned stage, film, TV, and voice roles has died, a rep for the actor acknowledged in a confirmation to Rolling Stone. Torn died at his house in Lakeville, Connecticut, upon Tuesday afternoon. He was 88.

Born Elmore Rual Torn Jr. in Temple, Texas, upon February 6th, 1931, he graduated from the college circles of Texas, where he studied acting previously serving in the Army.

Torn moved to Hollywood, where he scored his first major acting role in a 1956 film, Baby Doll. He later moved to additional York and attended the famed Actors Studio, which led to a number of stage roles. He appeared upon Broadway 10 times, initiation bearing in mind his debut in Elia Kazans production of Tennessee Williams Sweet Bird of Youth in 1959, where he starred next to Paul Newman and Geraldine Page, whom Torn was well along married to until her death in 1987. Torn was nominated for a Tony praise for his role as Tom Junior in the production and won a Theater World Award.

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Torn starred in numerous films, including 1965s The Cincinnati Kid, 1973s Payday, 1976s David Bowie-starring sci-fi film The Man Who Fell to Earth, and 1983s Cross Creek, for which he garnered an Oscar nomination. His breakout comedic role came by showing off of portraying reason attorney Bob Diamond in Albert Brooks 1991 film Defending Your Life. R.I.P Rip Torn. He was fittingly great in Defending Your Life. Ill miss you Rip, you were a authentic original, Brooks tweeted Tuesday. Torn after that starred next to Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson in the 1984 comedy Songwriter.

In the Nineties, Torn took on his most unshakable role as talk-show producer Artie upon The Larry Sanders Show, providing whip-smart wit as a foil to Garry Shandlings titular late-night host. Torn was nominated for six consecutive Emmys for his role, winning for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in 1996.

The high-profile portrayal led to several late-career roles, featuring appearances on TV shows that included 30 Rock (as Alec Baldwins CEO boss) and Will & Grace, along with roles in the films Men in Black andWonder Boys and cult comedies in the same way as DodgeBall: A real Underdog Story and Freddy Got Fingered. His film career encompassed approximately 200 roles. Torn next directed 1988s The Telephone, starring Whoopi Goldberg and penned by singer Harry Nilsson and Torns longtime pal Terry Southern.

As bold as his characters were onscreen, Torn was perhaps an even better personality off-camera: He infamously purposeless a role in 1969s Easy Rider after allegedly pulling a knife upon the films director, Dennis Hopper; that career-making allowance then again went to Jack Nicholson. Years later, Torn sued Hopper for defamation and was awarded $475,000, but the Easy Rider incident stifled Torns acting career. I wouldnt say that I was blacklisted, but the word got in the region of that I was difficult and unreliable, Torn told the allied Press in 1984. Unreliable! In all my years in the theater I have never missed a performance.

An improvised battle scene in author-director Norman Mailers Maidstone blurred the lines amongst cinema and reality, later than Torn attacking Mailer behind a tack hammer and the author severe off a piece of the actors ear. Well, you cant blame Norman for that, because he went to exploit taking into consideration an ol Texas regiment, Torn told David Letterman in 1983. Were still fine friends. In 2010, a drunk Torn was arrested for breaking into a Connecticut bank while carrying a loaded gun; the actor said he mistook the bank for his own house.

In the verification announcing Torns death, his relatives said that the secret ingredient to the actors realization was to play stand-in as comedy and comedy as drama.

R.I.P. Rip

A broadcast shared by Will Smith (@willsmith) on



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