Men In Black actor Rip Torn has died aged 88.
His publicist Rick Miramontez said Torn died on Tuesday afternoon at his home in Lakeville, Connecticut with his wife, Amy Wright, and daughters Katie Torn and Angelica Page by his side. No cause of death was given.
The Hollywood star, whose real name was Elmore Rual Torn, Jr., was nominated for a best supporting actor Oscar in 1984 and won six Emmy Awards during his career.
He made his film debut in 1957 in Time Limit, while other film credits included Sweet Bird of Youth, Critics Choice and The Cincinnati Kid. He also won a Tony during a long and acclaimed Broadway career.
Rip Torn played Artie in the Larry Sanders Show from 1992 until 1998 and featured in the Men In Black films as agency boss Zed. He also starred in comedy Dodgeball with Ben Stiller.
In 1996, when he bagged the Emmy for Supporting Actor in a Comedy, for his work on Larry Sanders, he was also up for Guest Actor in a Drama Series, for his turn in CBS show Chicago Hope, which went some way to highlight his versatility.
Garry Shandling, who played Larry Sanders, recalled Rip’s role during an interview in 2011.
He said: “The part was written to be a straight man but people were saying, ‘God, Rip is getting all those laughs.
“Who ever thought that Rip could be funny? Just everybody that knows him.'”
“With Rip, he came in the first time, and his agent said he wouldn’t read.
“Weeks later, it was just him and me in a room with no one else, and I said to Rip, ‘Could we read half of this together?’ And he said, ‘I don’t want to read.’ I said, ‘That’s totally fine,’ and I pushed it to the side of the table.
“We talked for less than another minute, and he reached over and took the page, and he starts the scene.
“It’s like trying to describe a good date to a friend the next day. I had to say to HBO and everybody else, ‘Honestly, this is the best sex I have had.'”
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