Rip Torn Biography

Actor Rip Torn was best known for the roles he played later in life, on television’s The Larry Sanders Show and on the big screen in Men in Black.

After his first attempt in Hollywood, where he was given several TV jobs, Torn studied acting in New York in the 1950s.

He was nominated for a Tony in The Sweet Bird of Youth (1960), and began getting film roles, often playing off-beat leads and surly-but-sensitive character roles.

Torn was nominated for an Oscar for 1983’s Cross Creek, but it was his role as Artie the producer on The Larry Sanders Show (1992-98, starring Gary Shandling) that got him the most recognition — in six seasons, Torn earned six Emmy nominations.

Of his many film roles, most moviegoers knew Rip Torn as Zed, the cranky boss in Men in Black (1997, starring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones).

His other roles included the mini-series Blind Ambition (1979, with Torn as President Richard Nixon), and the films Coma (1978), The Wonder Boys (2000) and Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004, starring Ben Stiller).

Off-screen Torn was a bit of a bad boy, with an arrest record showing a penchant for embracing liquor and turning his back on restraint.