Film and television After moving to Hollywood, Torn made his film debut in the 1956 film
Baby Doll. He 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. Torn later helped his younger cousin
Sissy Spacek enroll in the Actors Studio. He also appeared in the first production of his friend
James Baldwin's
Blues for Mister Charlie. Along with Baldwin and numerous mutual friends he was active in the Civil Rights movement from the '50s forward, as Baldwin's biographer David Leeming relates. 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 1957, he starred as incarcerated Steve Morgan in the
Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode "Number Twenty-Two", and on the same series in 1961, he played a recently released prisoner, Ernie Walters, in the
Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode "The Kiss-Off". After portraying
Judas, betrayer of Jesus, in 1961 epic film
King of Kings, Torn appeared in the February 7, 1962, episode of the acclaimed TV series
The Naked City, "A Case Study of Two Savages", He played a graduate student with multiple degrees in 1963 television series
Channing, and as Roy Kendall in the
Breaking Point episode "Millions of Faces". More military roles followed, as a Marine drill instructor in an episode of
The Lieutenant in 1963 and as a GI in an episode of
Combat! the next year. 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, in the film
The Cincinnati Kid, he played Slade, a corrupt New Orleans millionaire, who pressures
Steve McQueen during a high-stakes poker game. On television that year, Torn portrayed Colonel Royce in the episode "The Lorelei" of ''
Twelve O'Clock High. Following these roles, he had turns as a character actor in numerous subsequent films. 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 co-director
Dennis Hopper and he got into a bitter argument in a New York restaurant.
Jack Nicholson was chosen to play Hanson instead, giving a performance that helped to launch his career. In 1972, Torn won rave reviews for his portrayal of a
country and western singer in the
cult film Payday. He co-starred with singer
David Bowie in the 1976 science-fiction film
The Man Who Fell to Earth. He portrayed a Southern senator in 1979's
The Seduction of Joe Tynan, opposite
Alan Alda and
Meryl Streep, and a music producer in
Paul Simon's 1980 film
One-Trick Pony. In 1982, Torn played a role as a black magic cult leader in the sword-and-sorcery movie
The Beastmaster. He also co-starred in
Jinxed!, a comedy with
Bette Midler, and appeared as an airline executive in
Airplane II: The Sequel. He played a sheriff opposite
Treat Williams and
Kris Kristofferson in the 1984 thriller
Flashpoint. Torn received an
Academy Award nomination as
Best Supporting Actor for his role in 1983's
Cross Creek as a poor neighbor of
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings in the orange groves of Florida. He was nominated for the
CableACE Award for his portrayal of Big Daddy in the 1984
Showtime production of
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. He co-starred with
John Candy as a man who helps a tourist win a sailboat race in the 1985 comedy
Summer Rental. He had a brief role as Sheriff Hank Pearson in
Extreme Prejudice. 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 concerned 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, which also allowed her to replace Torn's chosen DP, veteran cinematographer
John A. Alonzo, with her 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'', a film from
HBO about a fictional world war. In 1991, he portrayed
Albert Brooks' character's celestial defense attorney in
Defending Your Life. He played a jeweler who murders his own nephew in order to steal a winning lottery ticket in an episode of
Columbo that year on TV, "Death Hits the Jackpot". In 1993, Torn portrayed the
OCP CEO in
RoboCop 3 and starred opposite
Tantoo Cardinal in
Where the Rivers Flow North. This is the same year that Torn played the owner of a fictional battery company in a series of
Energizer commercials in which the owner of a rival battery company hires various fictional villains to assault the
Energizer Bunny and eliminate the competition. He was a naval officer presiding over a wargame in the
Kelsey Grammer submarine comedy
Down Periscope in 1996. In 1997, Torn appeared in the Disney film
Hercules, in which he voiced the god
Zeus. Torn played MIB agency boss Zed in the 1997 hit film
Men in Black, starring
Will Smith and
Tommy Lee Jones, a role he reprised in the 2002 sequel
Men in Black II. In 2001, Torn portrayed James "Jim" Brody in the comedy film
Freddy Got Fingered. In 2004, he played the iconic wrench-tossing coach
Patches O'Houlihan in
DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story.
Stage career Broadway Torn appeared in ten
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
Theatre 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 at 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
Sam Shepard's 1979 play
Seduced: a Play in Two Acts. 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
August Strindberg's
Creditors and
The Stronger—in which he acted beside his wife at the time,
Geraldine Page for 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 six 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 Emmy nominations and win, 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 appeared in many comedic roles in films. He was also known for his voice work and did voice-overs for many animated films. In 2007 and 2008, he made five 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, Torn reprised his role as Zed in a
Men in Black-inspired
safety video for
Air New Zealand with rugby player
Israel Dagg and singer
Stan Walker. == Personal life ==