Early life

Torn was born Elmore Rual Torn Jr. in Temple, Texas, on February 6, 1931, the son of Elmore Rual Torn Sr., an agriculturalist and economist, and Thelma Mary Torn (née Spacek), aunt of actress Sissy Spacek. The family is of German, Austrian, and Czech/Moravian ancestry. The nickname "Rip" is a family tradition in the Torn family.

Torn was a member of the Texas A&M University Corps of Cadets, although he graduated from the University of Texas, and was a member of the Alpha Nu chapter of the Sigma Chi fraternity. After graduation, he served in the Military Police in the United States Army.

Career

Film career

At the University of Texas, Torn studied drama with Ben Iden Payne, and after moving to Hollywood, he made his debut in the 1956 film Baby Doll. Torn then studied at the Actors Studio in New York under Lee Strasberg, becoming a prolific stage actor, appearing in the original cast of Tennessee Williams' play Sweet Bird of Youth, and reprising the role in the film and television adaptations. While in New York, Torn introduced his cousin Sissy Spacek to the entertainment business, and helped her enrol in the Actors Studio.

One of Torn's earliest roles was in Pork Chop Hill, portraying the brother-in-law of Gregory Peck's character. He also had an uncredited role in A Face in the Crowd as Barry Mills. In 1957, Torn portrayed Jody in an early episode of The Restless Gun. In 1960, he played Ernie Walters in the Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode "The Kiss-Off."

In 1963, Torn appeared as a graduate student with multiple degrees in Channing, and as Roy Kendall in the Breaking Point episode "Millions of Faces." In 1964, Torn appeared as Eddie Sanderson in the episode "The Secret in the Stone" in The Eleventh Hour and in the premiere of The Reporter. In 1965, Torn portrayed Colonel Royce in the episode "The Lorelei" of 12 O-Clock High.

Since then, he has been a character actor in numerous films (see Filmography below).

The part of George Hanson in Easy Rider was written for Torn by Terry Southern, but according to Southern's biographer Lee Hill, Torn withdrew from the project after he and co-director Dennis Hopper got into a bitter argument in a New York restaurant (see Onsite Conflicts section below).

In 1972, Torn won rave reviews for his portrayal of a country & western singer in the cult film Payday. He received an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor for his role in Cross Creek.

In 1988, he ventured into directing with The Telephone. The screenplay was written by Terry Southern and Harry Nilsson and the film was produced by their company Hawkeye. The story, which focused on an unhinged, out-of-work actor, had been written with Robin Williams in mind. After he turned it down, Whoopi Goldberg expressed a strong interest, but when production began, Torn reportedly had to contend with Goldberg constantly digressing and improvising and he had to plead with her to perform takes that stuck to the script.

Goldberg was backed by the studio, who also allowed her to replace Torn's chosen DP, veteran cinematographer John Alonzo, with her then-husband. As a result of the power struggle, Torn, Southern, and Nilsson cut their own version of the film, using the takes that adhered to the script and this was screened at the Sundance Film Festival, but the studio put together a rival version using other takes and it was poorly reviewed when it premiered in January 1988. In 1990, he portrayed Colonel Fargo in By Dawn's Early Light.

In 1991, he portrayed Albert Brooks' character's celestial defense attorney in Defending Your Life. In 1993, Torn portrayed the OCP CEO in RoboCop 3, then opposite Tantoo Cardinal in Where the Rivers Flow North,. In 2001, Torn portrayed James "Jim" Brody in Freddy Got Fingered.

Stage career

Broadway

Torn has appeared in 10 Broadway plays and directed one. In 1959, he made his feature Broadway debut when he played Tom Junior in Sweet Bird of Youth, for which he won a Theater World Award and also received a Tony Award nomination.

He returned next in 1962 in the play Daughter of Silence as Carlo, following that with a role in the 1963 production of Strange Interlude. In 1964, he played Lyle Britten in Blues for Mister Charlie, and four years later he was Roberto in The Cuban Thing for its only performance on September 24, 1968.

In 1971, he portrayed Edgar in Dance of Death, and directed his first Broadway play in 1973: Look Away. In 1975, he portrayed the Son in the Broadway revival of The Glass Menagerie and 5 years later, portrayed Don in Mixed Couples. For 13 years, Torn was absent from Broadway, but returned in 1993 to portray Chris Christopherson in Anna Christie. In his last Broadway appearance in 1997, Torn portrayed Will Kidder in The Young Man from Atlanta.

Off-Broadway

Torn made his feature Off Broadway acting debut as Eben Cabot in the play Desire Under the Elms, followed by Peter in The Kitchen at the 81st Street Theatre. His third Off Broadway role was Marion-Faye-A-Pimp in The Deer Park, for which he won the 1967 Obie Award for Distinguished Performance. He performed at the Lucille Lortel Theatre in the play Dream of a Blacklisted Actor, and later in the Joseph Papp Public Theater's Anspacher Theater as William McLeod in Barbary Shore. He last acted Off Broadway at the American Place Theatre as Henry Hackamore in the play Seduced.

Torn's Off Broadway debut as director was for the Evergreen Theater with the play The Beard; he won the 1968 Obie for Distinguished Direction for that work. He next directed The Honest-to-God Schnozzia at the Gramercy Arts Theater, followed by Strindberg's Creditors and The Stronger - in which he acted beside his wife at the time, Geraldine Page and his future wife, Pasha Dabiri - in the Anspacher Theater of the Joseph Papp Public Theater. Torn and Page also co-produced that production, and had previously presented the two plays along with Miss Julie at the off-off-Broadway Hudson Guild Theatre the year before.

The Larry Sanders Show

From 1992 to 1998, Torn portrayed Artie in The Larry Sanders Show. For his work, Torn received 6 consecutive Emmy award nominations as Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series and won the award once (1996). Torn was the only actor in the series who won an Emmy Award for his work. Other than the Emmys, he received two American Comedy Awards nominations for Funniest Male Performance in a Series, winning once, and two CableACE Awards for his work on the series.

Later career

Following The Larry Sanders Show, Torn has appeared in many comedic roles in films (see Filmography below). He is also known for his voice work and has done voice-overs for many animated films.

In 2007 and 2008, he made 5 guest appearances on 30 Rock as the fictional Chief Executive Officer of General Electric, Don Geiss. He was nominated for an Emmy Award in the category for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series, but lost to Tim Conway, who guest starred in the same sitcom. Torn's character was reportedly killed off as a direct result of his 2010 arrest, though Tina Fey denied this in a DVD commentary. Torn voiced the character of Hephaestus in the 2010 video game, God of War III.

Torn also appears in the music video for the They Might Be Giants song "Can't Keep Johnny Down", from their 2011 album Join Us.

In 2015 he reprised his role as Zed in a Men in Black safety video for Air New Zealand.

Personal life

Family

Torn has been married three times and has six children

His first marriage to Ann Wedgeworth, lasted from 1956 to 1961. They had a daughter.

In 1963, Torn married Geraldine Page, and they remained married until her death in 1987. They had three children: actor Tony Torn, Jon Torn (an assistant professor of Electronic Media and Film at Northern Arizona University) and actress Angelica Page. Torn apparently delighted in the fact that the doorbell of their New York townhouse read Torn Page.

Currently, Torn is married to Amy Wright, with whom he has two children.

Legal troubles

On January 29, 2010, he was arrested after breaking into a Litchfield Bancorp branch office in Lakeville, Connecticut, where he maintains a residence. He was charged with carrying a firearm without a permit, carrying a firearm while intoxicated, first-degree burglary, second-degree criminal trespassing and third-degree criminal mischief. The Connecticut State Police said Torn broke into the bank thinking it was his home. At his court appearance his attorney told the judge his client needed help with alcohol abuse and that he could start treatment immediately in New York state. Torn was released on $100,000 bail.

As a condition of his release, Torn had to be evaluated for substance abuse. On August 11, 2010, Torn was denied special probation, which would have allowed his name to be cleared of charges. The judge in the case cited Torn's history of alcohol abuse and the possession of a loaded weapon while intoxicated, which carries a minimum one-year sentence. On December 14, 2010, Torn pleaded guilty to reckless endangerment, criminal trespass, criminal mischief and the illegal carrying of a firearm, and was given a two-and-a-half-year suspended jail sentence, and three years probation.

On-set conflicts

Appearing as an interview subject in Studs Terkel's 1974 oral-history book Working, Torn confessed, "I have certain flaws in my make-up. Something called irascibility. I get angry easily. I get saddened by things easily."

While filming Maidstone (1970), Torn struck director and star Norman Mailer in the head with a hammer. With the camera rolling, Mailer bit Torn's ear and they wrestled to the ground. The fight continued until it was broken up by cast and crew members. The fight is featured in the film. Although the scene may have been planned by Torn, the blood shed by both actors was real, and Torn was reportedly outraged by Mailer's direction.

In 1994, he filed a defamation lawsuit against Dennis Hopper over a story Hopper told on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Hopper claimed that Torn pulled a knife on him during pre-production of the film Easy Rider (1969).

According to Hopper, Torn was originally cast in the film but was replaced with Jack Nicholson after the incident. Torn claimed in his lawsuit that Hopper pulled the knife on him. A trial court judge ruled in Torn's favor and Hopper was ordered to pay $475,000 in compensatory damages but denied Torn's request for punitive damages, ruling Hopper had not acted with malice. Hopper appealed. A California appellate court upheld the ruling for compensatory damages, and reversed the ruling for the punitive damages, requiring Hopper to pay another $475,000.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1956	Baby Doll	The Dentist	Uncredited
1957	Time Limit	Lt. George Miller
1959	Pork Chop Hill	Lt. Walter Russel
1961	King of Kings	Judas Iscariot
1962	Sweet Bird of Youth	Thomas J. Finley, Jr.
1963	Critic's Choice	Dion Kapakos
	The Lieutenant	Episode 3, The Proud and the Angry, GySgt Karl Kasten
1965	The Cincinnati Kid	Slade
1966	You're a Big Boy Now	I.H. Chanticleer
	One Spy Too Many	Alexander
1967	Beach Red	Sergeant Honeywell
1969	Coming Apart	Joe
1970	Maidstone	Raoul Rey O'Houlihan
	Tropic of Cancer	Henry Miller
1972	Cotter	Roy
	Slaughter	Dominic Hoffo
	Payday	Maury Dann
	Mannix - Season 6 - "The Open Web"	Victor Roarke	Lead villain in a TV series episode
1973	The President's Plane is Missing	George Oldenburg
1974	Crazy Joe	Richie
1976	The Man Who Fell to Earth	Dr. Nathan Bryce
1977	Nasty Habits	Father Maximilian
1977	The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover	Dwight Webb
1978	Coma	Dr. George
1978	Steel Cowboy	K.W. Hicks	TV Movie
1978	The Eddie Capra Mysteries	Kilraine	TV (episode "The Intimate Friends of Janet Wilde")
1979	The Seduction of Joe Tynan	Senator Kittner
	Heartland	Clyde Stewart
1980	One Trick Pony	Walter Fox
	Rape and Marriage: The Rideout Case	Charles Burt	TV Movie
1982	A Stranger Is Watching	Artie Taggart
	The Beastmaster	Maax
	Jinxed!	Harold Benson
	Airplane II: The Sequel	Bud Kruger
1983	Cross Creek	Marsh Turner	Nominated - Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
1984	Flashpoint	Sheriff Wells
	City Heat	Primo Pitt
1985	Summer Rental	Scully
1985	Beer	Buzz Beckerman
1987	Extreme Prejudice	Sheriff Hank Pearson
	Nadine	Bufford Pope
1988	April Morning	Solomon Chandler	TV Movie
1989	Zwei Frauen	Dr. Markowitz
	Hit List	Vic Luca
	Cold Feet	Sheriff
1990	Beautiful Dreamers	Walt Whitman
	By Dawn's Early Light	Colonel Fargo
1991	Columbo: Death Hits the Jackpot	Leon Lamarr
	Defending Your Life	Bob Diamond
	Another Pair of Aces: Three of a Kind	Captain Jack Parsons	TV Movie
1992	Dolly Dearest	Karl Resnick
	Beyond the Law
1993	RoboCop 3	The CEO
	Where the Rivers Flow North	Noel Lord
1995	For Better or Worse	Captain Cole
	Canadian Bacon	General Dick Panzer
	Letter To My Killer	Russel Vanik	TV Movie
	How to Make an American Quilt	Arthur
1996	Down Periscope	Vice Adm. Dean Winslow
1997	Trial and Error	Benny Gibbs
	Hercules	Zeus	Voice Only
	Men in Black	Zed	Nominated - Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture
1998	Senseless	Randall Tyson
1999	Balloon Farm	Harvey H. Potter	TV Movie
	The Insider	John Scanlon
2000	Wonder Boys	Quentin 'Q' Morewood
2001	Freddy Got Fingered	Jim Brody	Nominated - Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actor
2002	Maniac Magee	George McNab	TV Movie
	Men in Black II	Zed
2003	Rolling Kansas	Oldman
	Love Object	Novak
2004	Welcome to Mooseport	Bert Langdon
	Eulogy	Edmund Collins
	Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story	Patches O'Houlihan
2005	Forty Shades of Blue	Alan James
	The Sisters	Dr. Chebrin
	Yours, Mine and Ours	Commandant Sherman
2006	Marie Antoinette	Louis XV
	Zoom	Larraby
2007	Three Days to Vegas	Joe Wallace
	Turn the River	Teddy Quinette
	Bee Movie	Lou Lo Duca & the Pollen Jocks General	Voice Only
2008	The Golden Boys	Captain Jeremiah "Jerry" Burgess
	August	David Sterling
2009	American Cowslip	Trevor O'Hart
	Happy Tears	Joe
	30 Rock	Don Geiss	TV: 7 Episodes
	The Afterlight	Carl
2010	God of War III	Hephaestus	Voice Only
2011	The Legend of Awesomest Maximus	King Looney
	3 Weeks to Daytona	Sal
2012	Bridge of Names	Tom
	Men in Black 3	Bug-Eyed Alien	Uncredited Cameo
2013	Johnny Kidd	Frank

[ Source: Wikipedia ]