Russ Tamblyn
Template:Short description Template:Use American English Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox person
Russell Irving Tamblyn (born December 30, 1934), also known as Rusty Tamblyn, is an American film and television actor and dancer.
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Tamblyn trained as a gymnast in his youth. He began his career as a child actor for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Tamblyn appeared in the musical Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954). He subsequently portrayed Norman Page in the drama Peyton Place (1957), for which he earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. In West Side Story (1961), he portrayed Riff, the leader of the Jets gang.
In the 1970s, Tamblyn appeared in several exploitation films. He worked as a choreographer in the 1980s. In 1990, he starred as Dr. Lawrence Jacoby in David Lynch's television drama Twin Peaks. He reprised the role in the show's 2017 revival.
Early lifeEdit
Tamblyn was born on December 30, 1934, in Los Angeles, California,Template:Sfn to actors Sally Aileen (Triplett) and Edward Francis "Eddie" Tamblyn.Template:Sfn His younger brother, Larry Tamblyn, was the organist for the 1960s band the Standells.<ref name=tcm>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Tamblyn was a hyperactive child with a penchant for gymnastics and performing. He took the stage during intermissions at the local movie theater and gave tumbling performances.Template:Sfn When he was 13, Tamblyn lived in North Hollywood and studied dramatics under Grace Bowman and dancing at the North Hollywood Academy, owned and operated by his parents.<ref name="Stone Jungle" />
CareerEdit
1948–1952: Child actingEdit
Tamblyn wanted to be a circus performer and was skilled in acrobatics and dancing as a child. He developed a musical act that involved singing, dancing, juggling and comedy.<ref>Template:Cite journal Template:Closed access</ref>
Tamblyn's first professional job came when he was ten years old and was cast by actor Lloyd Bridges in a play Bridges was directing, The Stone Jungle, alongside Dickie Moore.<ref name="Stone Jungle">Template:Cite news</ref> During the play's run Tamblyn was seen by several talent scouts and an agent, who signed him. The agent arranged for Tamblyn to audition for a role in The Boy With Green Hair (1948), and he was given a small part.Template:Sfn
Tamblyn appeared as young Saul in Cecil B. DeMille's Samson and Delilah (1949). "That was a big break for me", he later said. "After that I worked a lot."Template:Sfn
Tamblyn appeared in Reign of Terror, then was given a role in The Kid from Cleveland (1949)—billed third (as "Rusty Tamblyn") after stars George Brent and Lynn BariTemplate:Sfn—and in What Happened to Jo Jo? (1950).Template:Sfn
Tamblyn played the younger Bart Tare (played as an adult by John Dall) in the film noir Gun Crazy (1950) and Elizabeth Taylor's younger brother in Father of the Bride (also 1950) and its sequel, Father's Little Dividend (1951), at MGM. He appeared in Captain Carey, U.S.A. (1950), The Gangster We Made (1950), As Young as You Feel (1951), Cave of Outlaws (1951), Retreat, Hell! (1952), and The Winning Team (1952).Template:Sfn
1953–1962: MGM and leading rolesEdit
MGM was impressed by Tamblyn's performance in Retreat, Hell! and signed him to a long-term contract.<ref>Template:Cite news Template:Closed access</ref> He called this "the second big break" of his career.Template:Sfn
Tamblyn's first role under the contract was as a young soldier in boot camp in Take the High Ground! (1953), directed by Richard Brooks.<ref>Template:Cite news Template:Closed access</ref> His training as a gymnast and abilities as an acrobat prepared him for his breakout role as Gideon, the youngest brother, in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954).<ref name="bored"/> Tamblyn has said the director wanted to cast a Broadway dancer but MGM insisted the filmmakers use some contract talent, so he and Jeff Richards were cast.Template:Sfn
Tamblyn was not a trained dancer and always considered himself an actor who danced rather than the other way around,<ref name="bored">Template:Cite news Template:Closed access</ref> but the film was a big success and established him at MGM. He has said his career "really took off" after the film.Template:Sfn
Tamblyn was one of many studio contract players in the musical Deep in My Heart (1954). He played Eleanor Parker's brother in the Western Many Rivers to Cross (1955) and was one of several young MGM actors (including Jane Powell and Debbie Reynolds) in the musical Hit the Deck (1955).Template:Sfn
Tamblyn supported older actors in two Westerns: Robert Taylor and Stewart Granger in The Last Hunt (1956), a flop; and Glenn Ford and Broderick Crawford in The Fastest Gun Alive (1956), a big hit in which he performed an extraordinary "shovel" dance at a hoedown.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news Template:Closed access</ref>Template:R He served (uncredited) as a choreographer for Elvis Presley in 1957's Jailhouse Rock. MGM loaned Tamblyn to Allied Artists for his first star role, The Young Guns (1957). Back at MGM, he supported Glenn Ford and Gia Scala in Don't Go Near the Water (1957), a comedy set among members of the U.S. Navy.<ref name=tcm/>
20th Century Fox borrowed Tamblyn to play Norman Page in Peyton Place (1957) opposite Lana Turner and Diane Varsi, a performance for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.<ref name=tcm/> Tamblyn then went to England to play the title role in the musical Tom Thumb (1958), made for George Pal. When he returned, MGM cast him as the lead in High School Confidential (1958), which was a solid hit.Template:Sfn
Tamblyn's career momentum was interrupted when he was drafted into the United States Army in 1958.<ref>Template:Cite news Template:Closed access</ref> During his service he was given leave to play a prominent supporting part in Cimarron (1960).
Tamblyn's best-known musical role is as Riff, the leader of the Jets street gang in West Side Story (1961).<ref name=tcm/> He then appeared in two MGM Cinerama movies, The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm, again for Pal, and How the West Was Won (both 1962).
Tamblyn played Luke Sannerson in The Haunting (1963) for Robert Wise, who had made West Side Story. Tamblyn said he originally turned down the role as he disliked the part but agreed to do it when MGM threatened to put him on suspension. He then played "Smitty" Smith in MGM's Follow the Boys (also 1963).Template:Sfn
1963–1976: Television and independent filmsEdit
Tamblyn was unable to consolidate his position as a leading man and later said he "dropped out" after his West Side Story success and devoted himself to art, refusing movie roles, as well as the role of Gilligan in the TV series Gilligan's Island.<ref name="Lansing State Journal- 1990">Template:Cite news</ref>
In the 1960s he appeared in the TV series The Greatest Show on Earth ("Silent Love, Secret Love"; 1963), and Channing ("The Last Testament of Buddy Crown"; 1963). Tamblyn played a Viking alongside Richard Widmark and Sidney Poitier in The Long Ships (1965). Also in 1965 he appeared in Burke's Law ("Who Killed Rosie Sunset?") and Days of Our Lives.Template:Sfn
Tamblyn had the starring role in the low-budget MGM Western Son of a Gunfighter (1965) and starred in the 1966 Japanese kaiju film War of the Gargantuas. He guest starred on Tarzan ("Leopard on the Loose", 1966), and Iron Horse ("Decision at Sundown", 1967). Tamblyn later said he became "bored" with acting around this time and more interested in art.<ref name="bored" />
Tamblyn starred in the notorious biker movie Satan's Sadists (1969) for Al Adamson. He followed it with Scream Free! (1969), The Last Movie (1971), The Female Bunch (1971), and Dracula vs. Frankenstein (1971) for Adamson.Template:Citation needed
He appeared on TV in Cade's County ("Ragged Edge", 1972), Win, Place or Steal (1973), The World Through the Eyes of Children (1975), The Quest ("The Captive", 1976), The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams ("The Skyrider", 1978), and Nero Wolfe ("Before I Die", 1981). He was also in Black Heat (1976).Template:Citation needed
At the same time he worked in exploitation, Tamblyn also worked in the construction industry and computer software.<ref name="bored"/>
1978–1989: Choreography and filmEdit
Tamblyn played the supporting role in Neil Young's 1982 Human Highway while also credited for screenplay and choreography. He is credited as director, choreographer, and actor for Young's Greendale concert tour.<ref>Russ Tamblyn's Official Site: Welcome Template:Webarchive Retrieved September 16, 2007</ref> He choreographed a play, Man with Bags, in 1983.<ref name=brown>Template:Cite news Template:Closed access</ref>
Tamblyn appeared in the TV series Fame, Commando Squad (1987) for Fred Olen Ray, The Phantom Empire (1988), Necromancer (1988), B.O.R.N. (1988), The Bloody Monks (1988), and an episode of Quantum Leap. He was in Aftershock (1990) and Wizards of the Demon Sword (1991) for Fred Olen Ray.
1990–2004: Twin Peaks and other workEdit
In 1990–91, Tamblyn starred as Dr. Lawrence Jacoby on the David Lynch-created series Twin Peaks (alongside his West Side Story co-star Richard Beymer, who played Ben Horne);<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> his scenes in the 1992 prequel film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me were cut.
He appeared in Running Mates (1992), Little Devils: The Birth (1993), Cabin Boy (1994), Desert Steel (1995), and Babylon 5. He appeared on stage in Los Angeles in Zastrozzi.<ref>Template:Cite news Template:Closed access</ref> His work drifted back to straight to video: Starstruck (1995), Rebellious (1995), Attack of the 60 Foot Centerfold (1995) and Invisible Mom (1996) for Fred Olen Ray, Johnny Mysto: Boy Wizard (1997), My Ghost Dog (1997), and Little Miss Magic (1998) for Ray.
In 1997 and 2000, Tamblyn appeared on the soap opera General Hospital alongside his daughter Amber. In 2004, he appeared with Amber again, playing God in the form of a man walking dogs, in three episodes of Joan of Arcadia.<ref>Template:Cite news Template:Closed access</ref> The two also worked together in the films Rebellious and Johnny Mysto: Boy Wizard and the TV series The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret. In Quentin Tarantino's film Django Unchained, they were billed respectively as "Son of a Gunfighter" and "Daughter of a Son of a Gunfighter", alluding to Tamblyn's leading role in the 1965 western Son of a Gunfighter.
In 2004, the Academy Film Archive preserved Tamblyn's mid-1960s works First Film and Rio Reel.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2005–present: Later rolesEdit
Tamblyn had supporting roles in Drive (2011), Django Unchained (2012), and Hits (2014). He appeared several times in The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and in the revival of Twin Peaks (2017).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Personal lifeEdit
Tamblyn married actress Venetia Stevenson in 1956, but they divorced the next year.Template:Sfn In 1960, he married Elizabeth Kempton, a showgirl, in Las Vegas.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> In later years, Tamblyn discovered he had a daughter from a 1960s relationship with artist and spiritual practitioner Elizabeth Anne Vigil. That daughter, China Faye Tamblyn, is an artist and heavy metal welder who lives in California. Tamblyn did not meet her until she was a teenager, and only after the birth of his second child, actress and author Amber Tamblyn, who was born in 1983 to his third wife, Bonnie Murray.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In 2012, it was announced that Tamblyn was working on an autobiography, Dancing On The Edge.<ref name=ap>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The book was released in 2024.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Tamblyn underwent open heart surgery in October 2014. There were complications afterward and during his rehabilitation, but his health had reportedly improved by February 2015.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
FilmographyEdit
FilmEdit
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1948 | The Boy with Green Hair | Classmate | Uncredited |
| 1949 | Reign of Terror | Pierre's Oldest Son | Uncredited |
| 1949 | The Kid from Cleveland | Johnny Barrows | Credited as Rusty Tamblyn |
| 1949 | Samson and Delilah | Saul | |
| 1950 | Gun Crazy | Bart Tare at 14 | Credited as Rusty Tamblyn |
| 1950 | Captain Carey, U.S.A. | Pietro | Credited as Rusty Tamblyn |
| 1950 | The Vicious Years | Tino | |
| 1950 | Father of the Bride | Tommy Banks | Credited as Rusty Tamblyn |
| 1951 | Father's Little Dividend | Tommy Banks | |
| 1951 | As Young as You Feel | Willie McKinley | Credited as Rusty Tamblyn |
| 1951 | Cave of Outlaws | Young Peter | Uncredited |
| 1952 | Retreat, Hell! | Private | |
| 1952 | The Winning Team | Willie Alexander | Credited as Rusty Tamblyn |
| 1953 | Take the High Ground! | Paul Jamison | |
| 1954 | Seven Brides for Seven Brothers | Gideon Pontipee | |
| 1954 | Deep in My Heart | Lazar Berrison, Jr. | Uncredited |
| 1955 | Many Rivers to Cross | Shields | |
| 1955 | Hit the Deck | Danny Xavier Smith | |
| 1956 | The Last Hunt | Jimmy | |
| 1956 | The Fastest Gun Alive | Eric Doolittle | |
| 1956 | The Young Guns | Tully Rice | |
| 1957 | Don't Go Near the Water | Ensign Tyson | |
| 1957 | Peyton Place | Norman Page | |
| 1958 | High School Confidential! | Tony Baker/Mike Wilson | |
| 1958 | Tom Thumb | Tom Thumb | |
| 1960 | Cimarron | The Cherokee Kid | |
| 1961 | West Side Story | Riff | |
| 1962 | The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm | The Woodsman ('The Dancing Princess') / Tom Thumb | |
| 1962 | How the West Was Won | Confederate deserter | |
| 1963 | Follow the Boys | Lt (JG) "Smitty" Smith | |
| 1963 | The Haunting | Luke Sannerson | |
| 1964 | The Long Ships | Orm | |
| 1965 | Son of a Gunfighter | Johnny Ketchum | |
| 1966 | War of the Gargantuas | Dr. Paul Stewart | |
| 1967 | The Cool Ones | Whiz-Bam Dancer | Uncredited |
| 1969 | Satan's Sadists | Anchor | |
| 1969 | Scream Free! | Link | |
| 1971 | Dracula vs. Frankenstein | Rico | |
| 1971 | The Female Bunch | Bill | |
| 1971 | The Last Movie | Member of Billy's Gang | |
| 1974 | Win, Place or Steal | Raymond | |
| 1975 | The World Through the Eyes of Children | Devil | |
| 1976 | Black Heat | Ziggy | |
| 1982 | Neil Young: Human Highway | Fred Kelly | Also writer and choreographer |
| 1985 | The Fantasy Film Worlds of George Pal | Himself | Documentary |
| 1987 | Commando Squad | Anchor | |
| 1988 | Necromancer | Charles DeLonge | |
| 1988 | B.O.R.N. | Hugh | |
| 1988 | The Phantom Empire | Bill | Direct-to-DVD |
| 1989 | The Bloody MonksTemplate:Citation needed | Frank | |
| 1990 | Aftershock | Hank Franklin | |
| 1991 | Wizards of the Demon Sword | Ulric | |
| 1992 | Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me | Dr. Lawrence Jacoby | Scenes deleted |
| 1993 | Little Devils: The Birth | Doc Clapton | |
| 1994 | Cabin Boy | Chocki | |
| 1994 | Desert Steel | Tate | |
| 1995 | Starstruck | Wheeler | |
| 1995 | Rebellious | Old Guy | |
| 1995 | Attack of the 60 Foot Centerfold | Gas Attendant | |
| 1996 | Invisible Mom | Dr. Woorter | Direct-to-DVD |
| 1997 | Johnny Mysto: Boy Wizard | Blackmoor | Direct-to-DVD |
| 1998 | Little Miss Magic | Brenden Moran | |
| 2000 | Special Envoys | ||
| 2002 | Cinerama Adventure | Himself | Documentary |
| 2011 | Drive | Doc | |
| 2012 | Django Unchained | Son of a Gunfighter | |
| 2014 | Hits | Russ | |
| 2015 | Chatty Cattie | Bruce |
TelevisionEdit
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1963 | The Greatest Show on Earth | Tom Tuttle | Episode: "Silent Love, Secret Love" |
| 1963 | Channing | Hal Langley | Episode: "The Last Testament of Buddy Crown" |
| 1965 | Burke's Law | Maximillian | Episode: "Who Killed Rosie Sunset?" |
| 1965 | Gunsmoke | Billy Waters | Episode: "He Who Steals" |
| 1966 | Tarzan | Bell | Episode: "Leopard on the Loose" |
| 1967 | Iron Horse | Kehoe | Episode: "Decision at Sundown" |
| 1969 | The Name of the Game | John Earl | Episode: "A Hard Case of the Blues" |
| 1972 | Cade's County | Brewster | Episode: "Ragged Edge" |
| 1976 | The Quest | Kelly | Episode: "The Captive" |
| 1978 | The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams | Milton Wright | Episode: "The Skyrider" |
| 1981 | Nero Wolfe | Police Detective | Episode: "Before I Die" |
| 1986–1987 | Fame | Russ / Michael Taftner | 3 episodes |
| 1987 | Rags to Riches | Roger | Episode: "Vegas Rock" |
| 1989 | Quantum Leap | Bert Glasserman | Episode: "Thou Shalt Not..." |
| 1990–1991 | Twin Peaks | Dr. Lawrence Jacoby | 15 episodes |
| 1992 | Running Mates | Frank Usher | Television film |
| 1994 | Babylon 5 | Capt. Jack Maynard | Episode: "A Distant Star" |
| 1997 | Nash Bridges | Jim the Penman | Episode: "The Counterfeiters" |
| 1997 | General Hospital | Nurses ball dancer | 1 episode |
| 1998 | My Ghost Dog | Vito | Television film |
| 1999 | Inherit the Wind | Ed Morse | Television film |
| 2000 | General Hospital | Dr. Rose | 2 episodes |
| 2004 | Joan of Arcadia | Dog Walker God | 3 episodes |
| 2010–2012 2016 |
The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret | Chuck Margaret / Billy the Cheesegrater | 9 episodes |
| 2017 | Twin Peaks | Dr. Lawrence Jacoby | 6 episodes |
| 2018 | The Haunting of Hill House | Dr. Montague | Episode: "The Bent-Neck Lady" |
Awards and nominationsEdit
| Award | Category | Year | Title of work | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Academy Award | Best Actor in a Supporting Role | 1957 | Peyton Place | Nominated |
| Golden Globe Award | Most Promising Newcomer - Male | 1956 | Hit the Deck | Won (shared with Ray Danton) |
| Golden Laurel Award | Top Male Musical Performance | 1959 | Tom Thumb | Nominated |
ReferencesEdit
Works citedEdit
External linksEdit
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