Men in Black & Larry Sanders Show Star Rip Torn Dies at 88

harden graphic symbol worker Rip Torn has passed away at the age of 88 . The Emmy - gain thespian was perhaps best known for playing temperamental or otherwise outlandish characters on TV series likeThe Larry Sanders Show , as well as theMen in Blackmovies andDodgeball : A True Underdog Story , among many other films . His playacting calling spanned more than sixty years and included performance in multiple theatrical productions , include his Tony - propose lineament Broadway launching in 1959’sSweet Bird of Youth .

Born Elmore Rual Torn Jr. in Temple , Texas on February 6 , 1931 , Torn get going by the byname " Rip " ( a nickname used by the men in his family ) and attended college to study agriculture and computer architecture before turning to play or else . He got his self-aggrandising gap when Elia Kazan cast him in the original 1955 product ofCat on a Hot Tin Roof , and would go on to land his first major film function two years later in the 1957 court play , Time Limit .

News of Torn ’s passing was confirmed by his publiciser on Tuesday , July 9 ( h / tTHR ) . He died surrounded by his wife , Amy Wright , and daughters Katie and Angelica .

buck appeared in several noteworthy films and television set shows throughout the sixties and ' 70s , ranging fromThe Man from UNCLEandAlfred Hitchcock PresentstoThe Cincinnati Kidand the TV mini - seriesBlind Ambition(where Torn portray Richard M. Nixon ) . He became known for playing in darkness flaky characters inclined to bacchanal in that prison term , especially thanks to his office in picture like 1969’sComing Apartand David Bowie ’s 1976 furor classicThe valet de chambre Who fall to Earth . He start on to garner an Oscar nomination for dally an alcoholic paterfamilias in 1984’sCross Creekand portray the vehement producer " Artie " across all six seasons ofThe Larry Sanders Showin the nineties ( landing him an Emmy profits in 1996 ) .

at last , Torn continued to play until the last few years of his life . In addition to his turns as MIB head Zed and the dodgeball legend Patches O’Houlihan inDodgeball , Torn cede memorable supporting performance in films like Albert Brooks ' 1991 comedyDefending Your Life , Michael Moore ’s 1995 satireCanadian Bacon , Disney ’s animatedHercules(where he voiced Zeus ) , Sofia Coppola’sMarie Antoinette , and a recur Erolia minutilla as Jack Donaghy ’s gaffer Don Geiss on30 Rockfrom 2007 - 09 . In his concluding projection screen role , Torn voiced M on the animated TV seriesTripTank .

Torn was recognise for being as fickle off - sieve as he was on and was even arrested for drunkenly breaking into a Connecticut coin bank with a throttle in 2010 , but typically possess up to his short temper in consultation . He also used that vim for political causes and worked to depart an integrated interior theater during the 1960s before later speaking out against the Vietnam War in the other ' seventy .