Browse: Home / Celebrating the Living: Rip Torn

Menu

Skip to content
  • Home
  • Who We Are
  • About
  • Privacy
  • Contact Us
  • Login

The-SoluteLogo

A Film Site By Lovers of Film

Menu

Skip to content
  • Features
  • Reviews
  • Long Reviews
  • News
  • Articles and Opinions
  • Other Media
  • The Friday Article Roundup: The Truth is In Here
  • Lunch Links: Schwarzfahrer
  • Websites on the Internet: THE SOLUTE
  • New on DVD and Blu-Ray
  • Movie Gifts Holidays 2024

Celebrating the Living: Rip Torn

Posted By Gillianren on October 15, 2017 in Features | 12 Responses

I am delighted to discover that he hit Norman Mailer with a hammer. Okay, let’s be fair—I’m delighted to discover that anyone hit Norman Mailer with a hammer; Norman Mailer was a terrible person. They were in the movie Maidstone together, with Mailer directing and starring. The fight was part of the plot, but apparently they got a little carried away. So Rip Torn his him with a hammer, and Mailer bit Torn’s ear. And the fight is actually in the movie, if you want to see that. Which why wouldn’t you?

For decades, you wanted a gruff-voiced guy who took no nonsense, you cast Rip Torn. His credits go back to 1956, with the uncomfortable Baby Doll, and include an interesting assortment of films. Some of them are classics. Some of them are merely pretty good. Some of them, yes, are awful. And some of them, I’ve never heard of. Ninety-one, all told, with ninety-three TV shows. He seems to have pretty well retired now, which is probably a combination of age and certain legal issues.

Torn definitely played a type. When you see him show up in something, you can pretty well be sure what kind of character you’re going to get. But the important thing is that he’s always played that character well. Maybe you don’t go to Torn for range, but you do definitely go to him for quality. Honestly, there’s a certain amount of overlap between him and Harry Dean Stanton, and I’m kind of left wondering who’s going to do those roles now that Stanton is dead and Torn is retired. Maybe Torn was seldom as just plain odd as Stanton, but other than that, I could often see one playing the other’s roles if I thought about it—Stanton as Zed would have been different but no less interesting.

Actually, I feel kind of guilty that Zed is pretty much exclusively how I think of him. It’s been a while since I’ve seen A Face in the Crowd and don’t remember him in it. I’m not a fan of The Larry Sanders Show. I look over the list of things he was in, and I think, “I’ve never seen it . . . I don’t want to see it . . . wow, that wasn’t good . . . I don’t remember him in that.” And yet there’s a strong career for all that; after all, those movies all got made, and at worst, they have one good, solid actor in them.

A few details that don’t really merit paragraphs of their own. He’s Sissy Spacek’s first cousin. “Rip” is a family nickname, presumably because “Rip Torn” is funny. He was married to Geraldine Page for twenty-four years, until her death, and seemed delighted by the fact that the label on their doorbell was “Torn Page.” He is in Men in Black III even though Zed isn’t, as an alien in the funeral scene. And for many years, I got him and Rip Taylor confused, because “Rip” is an unusual name, and wouldn’t you expect the weird guy to be Rip Torn?

 

Consider supporting my Patreon!

Posted in Features | Tagged celebrate the living, Rip Torn, tribute

About the Author

gillianmadeira@hotmail.com'

Gillianren

Gillianren is a forty-something bipolar woman living in the Pacific Northwest after growing up in Los Angeles County. She and her boyfriend have one son and one daughter, and she gave a daughter up for adoption. She fills her days by watching her local library system’s DVD collection in alphabetical order, watching everything that looks interesting. She particularly enjoys pre-Code films, blaxploitation, and live-action Disney movies of the ’60s and ’70s. She has a Patreon account at https://www.patreon.com/gillianren

Related Posts

Life is a mysteryCelebrating the Living: Madonna→

Clearly Pryor knew a thing or two about wooing womenAttention Must Be Paid: Richard Pryor→

Definitely how most people picture him.Celebrating the Living: John Cameron Mitchell→

A sexy hot mess bigot!Attention Must Be Paid: Patricia Highsmith→

  • Comments
  • Popular
  • Most Recent
  • j*****@yahoo.com'
    mr_apollo on Year of the Month: Mon OncleWonderful piece, Sam. It's made…
  • j*****@yahoo.com'
    mr_apollo on Year of the Month: Mon OncleFellow heretic here. I've never…
  • n***********@gmail.com'
    Ruck Cohlchez on Film on the Internet: AN AMERICAN CRIMEI wouldn't have called it…
  • j***********@gmail.com'
    Son of Griff on LIFE ITSELFGlad to hear back from…
  • n*********@gmail.com'
    Jake Gittes on Film on the Internet: AN AMERICAN CRIMEThis is the single most…
  • “The End” of SAVAGES

    38395 views / Posted November 10, 2014
  • The Untalented Mr. Ripley: The Craft of Standup Comedy and the Non-Comedy of TOM MYERS

    30743 views / Posted June 26, 2018
  • What the fuck did I just watch? SPHERE

    30348 views / Posted March 19, 2015
  • Gordon with Mr. Looper

    Attention Must Be Paid: Will Lee

    27652 views / Posted January 7, 2023
  • Scenic Routes: SHOWGIRLS (1995)

    23356 views / Posted November 20, 2014
  • The truth is FAR out there.

    The Friday Article Roundup: The Truth is In Here

    December 6, 2024 / The Ploughman
  • This is a way lower res image than I will be allowed to get away with at the new site.

    Lunch Links: Schwarzfahrer

    December 5, 2024 / The Ploughman
  • Websites on the Internet: THE SOLUTE

    December 4, 2024 / ZoeZ
  • New on DVD and Blu-Ray

    December 3, 2024 / Greta Taylor
  • Movie Gifts Holidays 2024

    December 2, 2024 / The Ploughman

Last Tweets

    ©2014 - 2016 The-Solute | Hosted, Developed and Maintained by Bellingham WP LogoBellinghamWP.com.

    Menu

    • Home
    • Who We Are
    • About
    • Privacy
    • Contact Us
    • Login
    Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!