I had the enormous pleasure of meeting Rip Torn a decade ago. I was attending the full cast panel discussion (at CBS studios) of THE LARRY SANDERS SHOW, which is still one of the most devastatingly funny evenings I've ever spent. I was a huge fan of the show, and afterwards, the one guy whose hand I wanted to shake was Torn's. As is my wont, I made an incredible fool of myself, asking him in all seriousness if Anthony Hopkins had sought his advice about portraying Richard Nixon for the film "Nixon." (Torn is famous for having portrayed Tricky Dick.) Rip entertained my question with a cocked eyebrow, drew himself up to his full height and responded somberly: "No, of course not."
My two Rip Torn stories:
1. When I was a wee sprig of a twig of a tad of a lad of a youth and around fifteen, I hitchhiked regularly (in the days when one hitchhiked without too much fear). One fine day I was thumbing a ride and got picked up by a nice man. He chatted me up and I told him I wanted to be an actor. He was very nice, and then told me he was an actor - I asked his name and he said Rip Torn. I didn't know if he was kidding or not, with a name like that, but he was really nice and gave me not only a ride, but good wishes for a career as an actor.
2. Flash forward to 1993. I'm pretty much out of the acting business and firlmy entrenched in producing CDs. But, I still occasionally go on commercial interviews, even though I don't want to. My agent calls me in the car and asks if I can go to an appointment in Hollywood, and since I'm just a few minutes from where it is, I go, for the role of a scientist. I walk in and there are twenty actors there, all wearing lab coats. I'm in a t-shirt and jeans. I go in for my interview and do the bit, and the director comes up to me, pats me on the shoulder and says, "Thank God, someone subtle who's not wearing a lab coat." It was the one and only commercial I ever got without a callback. The director turned out to be Frank Oz. And my co-star in the commercial for Energizer was Mr. Torn.
