Profile of Rip Torn on Famous Like Me

Rip Torn (born February 6, 1931), born Elmore Rual Torn in Temple, Texas, is an American film actor. He may be best known for playing Agent Z in the feature film Men in Black, but has also starred in TV series such as HBO's The Larry Sanders Show. He has more recently appeared in the Ben Stiller movie Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story as Patches O'Houlihan. He can now be seen as the Commissioner on GSN's Extreme Dodgeball.

Torn relocated from his native Texas to give Hollywood a shot, which meant pounding the pavement through auditions and supporting himself at another time. He made his debut in Baby Doll and appearances on television. Realizing that the way to success was a hard one, Torn headed to New York where he studied at the Actors Studio under Lee Strasberg and started becoming a prolific stage actor before moving back into television and film.

His cousin, Sissy Spacek, was introduced to the entertainment business through him and she was able to enroll in Lee Strasberg's Actors Studio and then the Lee Strasberg Institute in New York.

Filmography

Actor

Movie

• Funny Peculiar (2005) (pre-production) .... Harold Nolan
• Bee Movie (2007) (filming) (voice)
• The Return of Zoom (2006) (filming) .... Larraby
• Cat Tale (2006) (filming) (voice)
• Retirement (2006) (post-production) .... Joe Wallace
• Yours, Mine and Ours (2005) (post-production)
• Marie-Antoinette (2006/I) (post-production) .... King Louis XV
• The Sisters (2005)
• Forty Shades of Blue (2005) .... Alan James
• Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004) .... Patches O'Houlihan
• Eulogy (2004) .... Edmund Collins
• Welcome to Mooseport (2004) .... Bert Langdon
• Love Object (2003) .... Novak
• Rolling Kansas (2003) .... Oldman
• Men in Black II (2002) .... Zed
• Freddy Got Fingered (2001) .... Jim Brody
• Nine Hundred Nights (2001) (V) .... Narrator
• Men in Black Alien Attack (2000) .... Agent Zed
• Wonder Boys (2000) .... Q
• The Insider (1999) .... John Scanlon
• Senseless (1998) .... Randall Tyson
• Men in Black (1997) .... Chief Zed
• Hercules (1997) (voice) .... Zeus
• Trial and Error (1997) .... Benjamin 'Benny' Gibbs
• Hercules (1997/II) (VG) (voice) .... Zeus
• The Mouse (1996) .... Trucker 'God'
• Down Periscope (1996) .... Vice Adm. Dean Winslow
• For Better or Worse (1996) .... Captain Cole
• How to Make an American Quilt (1995) .... Arthur Cleary
• Canadian Bacon (1995) .... General Dick Panzer
• RoboCop 3 (1993) .... The CEO
• Where the Rivers Flow North (1993) .... Noel Lord
• Beyond the Law (1992) .... Deputy Prescott
• Dolly Dearest (1992) .... Karl Resnick
• Defending Your Life (1991) .... Bob Diamond
• Death Falls (1991) .... Dub Farley
• Beautiful Dreamers (1990) .... Walt Whitman
• Zwei Frauen (1989) .... Dr. Markowitz
• Cold Feet (1989) .... Sheriff
• Hit List (1989) .... Vic Luca
• Blind Curve (1988) .... Maheu
• Nadine (1987) .... Buford Pope
• Extreme Prejudice (1987) .... Sheriff Hank Pearson
• Beer (1985) .... Buzz Beckerman
• Summer Rental (1985) .... Scully
• City Heat (1984) .... Primo Pitt
• Flashpoint (1984) .... Sheriff Wells
• Misunderstood (1984) .... Will
• Songwriter (1984) .... Dino McLeish
• Cross Creek (1983) .... Marsh Turner
• Airplane II: The Sequel (1982) .... Bud Kruger/President Reagan
• The Beastmaster (1982) .... Maax
• Jinxed! (1982) .... Harold Benson
• Scarab (1982) .... Khepera
• A Stranger Is Watching (1982) .... Artie Taggart
• First Family (1980) .... JCS Chairman G. E. Dumpston
• One Trick Pony (1980) .... Walter Fox
• Heartland (1979) .... Clyde Stewart
• The Seduction of Joe Tynan (1979) .... Senator Kittner
• Coma (1978) .... Dr. George
• The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover (1977) .... Dwight Webb
• Nasty Habits (1977) .... Father Maximilian
• Birch Interval (1977) .... Thomas
• The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976) .... Nathan Bryce
• Song of Myself (1976) .... Walt Whitman
• Crazy Joe (1974) .... Richie
• Cotter (1973) .... Roy
• Slaughter (1972) .... Hoffo
• Payday (1972) .... Maury Dann
• Tropic of Cancer (1970) .... Henry Miller
• Maidstone (1970) .... Raoul Rey O'Houlihan
• Coming Apart (1969) .... Joe
• Sol Madrid (1968) .... Dano Villanova
• Beyond the Law (1968/I) .... Popcorn
• Beach Red (1967) .... Gunnery Sgt. Ben Honeywell
• You're a Big Boy Now (1966) .... I. H. Chanticleer
• One Spy Too Many (1966) .... Alexander
• The Cincinnati Kid (1965) .... William Jefferson Slade
• Critic's Choice (1963) .... Dion Kapakos
• Hero's Island (1962) .... Nicholas Gates
• Sweet Bird of Youth (1962) .... Thomas 'Tom' J. Finley, Jr.
• King of Kings (1961) .... Judas
• Pork Chop Hill (1959) .... Lt. Walter Russel
• Time Limit (1957) .... Lt. George Miller
• A Face in the Crowd (1957) (uncredited) .... Barry Mills
• Baby Doll (1956) (uncredited) .... The Dentist

Television

• The Lyon's Den (2003) (TV) .... Senator Turner
• Maniac Magee (2003) (TV) .... George McNab
• A Vision of Murder: The Story of Donielle (2000) (TV) .... Detective Manny Garett
• Balloon Farm (1999) (TV) .... Harvey H. Potter
• "Seasons of Love" (1999) (mini) TV Series .... Spence
• Passing Glory (1999) (TV) .... Father Robert Grant
• The Almost Perfect Bank Robbery (1998) (TV) .... Royce
• "Ghost Stories" (1997) TV Series .... Narrator
• Letter to My Killer (1995) (TV) .... Russel Vanik
• She Stood Alone: The Tailhook Scandal (1995) (TV) .... Adm. Snyder
• Heart of a Child (1994) (TV) .... Dr. Leonard Bailey
• "Heaven & Hell: North & South, Book III" (1994) (mini) TV Series .... Adolphus
• Dead Ahead: The Exxon Valdez Disaster (1992) (TV) .... Yost
• A Mother's Right: The Elizabeth Morgan Story (1992) (TV) .... Bill Morgan
• T Bone N Weasel (1992) (TV) .... Happy Sam
• The Larry Sanders Show (1992) TV Series .... Arthur
• Columbo: Death Hits the Jackpot (1991) (TV) .... Leon Lamarr
• My Son Johnny (1991) (TV) .... Brian Stansbury
• Another Pair of Aces: Three of a Kind (1991) (TV) .... Parsons
• By Dawn's Early Light (1990) (TV) .... E-4 Col. Fargo
• Pair of Aces (1990) (TV) .... Capt. Jack Parsons
• Kojak: None So Blind (1990) (TV) .... Gideon Hogarth
• Sweet Bird of Youth (1989) (TV) .... Boss Finley
• April Morning (1988) (TV) .... Solomon Chandler
• The King of Love (1987) (TV) .... Jack Kraft
• Laguna Heat (1987) (TV) .... Joe Datilla
• Destination America (1987) (TV) .... Corbet St. James IV
• J. Edgar Hoover (1987) (TV) .... Lyndon Baines Johnson
• Manhunt for Claude Dallas (1986) (TV) .... Tim Nettleton
• "Dream West" (1986) (mini) TV Series .... Kit Carson
• "The Atlanta Child Murders" (1985) (mini) TV Series .... Lewis Slaton
• The Execution (1985) (TV) .... Wilheim Gehbert
• Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1985) (TV) .... Big Daddy
• When She Says No (1984) (TV) .... Stuart Blankfort
• "The Blue and the Gray" (1982) (mini) TV Series .... Gen. Ulysses S. Grant
• Rape and Marriage: The Rideout Case (1980) (TV) .... Charles Burt
• Sophia Loren: Her Own Story (1980) (TV) .... Carlo Ponti
• A Shining Season (1979) (TV) .... Jack Baker
• Scooby-Doo Goes Hollywood (1979) (TV) .... C.J.
• "Blind Ambition" (1979) (mini) TV Series .... Richard M. Nixon
• Steel Cowboy (1978) (TV) .... K.W. Hicks
• Betrayal (1978) (TV) .... Doctor Hartogs
• Attack on Terror: The FBI vs. the Ku Klux Klan (1975) (TV) .... Glen Tuttle
• The President's Plane Is Missing (1973) (TV) .... George Oldenburg
• Montserrat (1971) (TV)
• Twenty-Four Hours in a Woman's Life (1961) (TV) .... Paul

Director

• The Telephone (1988)

Crew

• Harlan County, U.S.A. (1976) (thanks)

As Himself

• "Extreme Dodgeball" (2005) TV Series .... Himself/Commissioner (2005 -)
• Clint Eastwood: Out of the Shadows (2000) (TV) .... Himself
• The 51st Annual Tony Awards (1997) (TV) .... Presenter - Featured Actress in a Musical
• 2nd Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards (1996) (TV)
• The Hindenburg (1996) (TV) .... Narrator
• James Dean: A Portrait (1996) (TV) .... Narrator
• Fires of Kuwait (1992) .... Narrator
• On the Line (1976) (voice) .... Narrator
• One P.M. (1972)

External link

• Rip Torn at the Internet Movie Database

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