Russ Tamblyn

Russ Tamblyn
Tamblyn in 2010
Born	Russell Irving Tamblyn (1934-12-30) December 30, 1934 Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupations	Actor dancer artist
Years active	1948–present
Spouses	Venetia Stevenson ​ ​ (m. 1956; div. 1957)​ Elizabeth Kempton ​ ​ (m. 1960; div. 1979)​ Bonnie Murray ​ (m. 1981)​
Children	2, including Amber Tamblyn
Father	Eddie Tamblyn
Website	www.russtamblyn.com

Russell Irving Tamblyn, also known as Rusty Tamblyn (born December 30, 1934) 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.

Tamblyn appeared in several exploitation films throughout the 1970s, and worked as a choreographer in the 1980s. He starred as Dr. Lawrence Jacoby in David Lynch's 1990-91 television drama Twin Peaks and its 2017 revival.

Early life

Tamblyn was born December 30, 1934, in Los Angeles, California, to actors Sally Aileen (Triplett) and Edward Francis "Eddie" Tamblyn. His younger brother, Larry Tamblyn, was the organist for the 1960s band the Standells. 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. When he was 13, Tamblyn lived in North Hollywood, studied dramatics under Grace Bowman and dancing at the North Hollywood Academy, owned and operated by his parents.

Career

1948–1952: Child acting

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.

Discovered at age 10 by actor Lloyd Bridges after acting in a play, Tamblyn first appeared on film in a small non-speaking role in The Boy With Green Hair (1948), after which he appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show. At age 13 he appeared in the stage play The Stone Jungle.

Tamblyn was given a role in The Kid from Cleveland (1949), billed third (as "Rusty Tamblyn") under stars George Brent and Lynn Bari. The movie was not a success, but it established Tamblyn as a film actor. He appeared as young Saul in Reign of Terror, Cecil B. DeMille's 1949 version of Samson and Delilah, and in What Happened to Jo Jo? (1950).

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). 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).

1953–1962: MGM and leading roles

Tamblyn and Gia Scala in Don't Go Near the Water (1957)

MGM was impressed by Tamblyn's performance in Retreat, Hell! and signed him to a long-term contract. His first role under the contract was as a young soldier in boot camp in Take the High Ground! (1953), directed by Richard Brooks. His training as a gymnast in high school, and abilities as an acrobat, prepared him for his breakout role as Gideon, the youngest brother, in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954).

Tamblyn was not a trained dancer and always considered himself an actor who danced rather than the other way around, but the film was a big success and established him at MGM. 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 (others included Jane Powell and Debbie Reynolds) in the musical Hit the Deck (1955).

Tamblyn in Peyton Place (1957)

Tamblyn supported older actors in two Westerns: Robert Taylor (American actor) 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, where he performed an extraordinary "shovel" dance at a hoe-down early in the film. 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.

Tamblyn portrayed Norman Page in the film of Peyton Place (1957) at 20th Century Fox, opposite Lana Turner and Diane Varsi. For his performance he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He was then given a star role at MGM, playing Tony Baker in High School Confidential (1958). The film was a solid hit. Also successful was the musical Tom Thumb (1958) made for George Pal, in which Tamblyn was cast in the title role. His career momentum was interrupted when he was drafted into the United States Army in 1958.

Upon his return MGM gave him a prominent support part in Cimarron (1960), supporting Glenn Ford. Tamblyn's best-known musical role came as Riff, the leader of the Jets street gang in West Side Story (1961). He then appeared in two MGM Cinerama movies, The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm and How the West Was Won (both 1962). He played Luke Sanderson in The Haunting and Lt. "Smitty" Smith in MGM's Follow the Boys (both 1963).

1963–1976: Television and independent films

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 a role in the TV series Gilligan's Island. 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 in Days of Our Lives.

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.

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.

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).

At the same time he worked in exploitation, Tamblyn also worked in the construction industry and computer software.

1978–1989: Choreography and film

Tamblyn played the supporting role in Neil Young's 1982 Human Highway while also credited for screenplay and choreography. Tamblyn is credited as director, choreographer and actor for Young's Greendale concert tour. He choreographed a play, Man with Bags, in 1983.

Tamblyn appeared in 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 work

Tamblyn at the 1990 Annual Primetime Emmy Awards

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); 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. 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.

Tamblyn appeared on another soap opera, General Hospital, alongside his daughter Amber in 1997 and 2000. In 2004, he appeared with Amber again, playing God in the form of a man walking dogs, in three episodes of Joan of Arcadia. The two also worked together in the films Rebellious, Johnny Mysto: Boy Wizard, and 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 his leading role in the 1965 western Son of a Gunfighter.

In 2004, the Academy Film Archive preserved the mid-1960s works First Film and Rio Reel by Tamblyn.

2005–present: Later roles

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, and in the revival of Twin Peaks (2017).

Personal life

Tamblyn married actress Venetia Stevenson in 1956, but they divorced the next year. In 1960 he married Elizabeth Kempton, a showgirl, in Las Vegas. In later years, Tamblyn discovered he had a daughter he did not previously know about from the 1960's with artist and spiritual practitioner Elizabeth Anne Vigil. His first 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 Amber Tamblyn, who was born in 1983 to his third wife, Bonnie Murray.

In 2012, it was announced that Tamblyn was working on an autobiography, Dancing On The Edge.

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.

In June 2021, Amber Tamblyn wrote an essay in The New York Times expressing solidarity with Britney Spears's effort to end the conservatorship controlling her life. Tamblyn wrote that she became financially successful when she turned 21 and starred in Joan of Arcadia. Her father became her co-manager and her mother her business manager. She wrote that having her parents on the payroll complicated their relationship, and that having money at such a young age also complicated other relationships with relatives, friends and romantic partners, that she was "everybody's ATM", and that her money "paid for our vacations, dinners out, and sometimes even the bills". But she wrote that she remains close to her parents despite those difficult years. "My mom taught me everything I know about money management, from balancing checkbooks to coding my business expenses in my credit card statements. My father was a fiercely protective advocate."

Filmography

Film

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 Pete Carver	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	Lieutenant Junior Grade "Smitty" Smith
1963	The Haunting	Luke Sanderson
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 Monk	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

Television

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	Captain Jack Maynard	Episode: "A Distant Star"
1997	Nash Bridges	Jim, The Penman	Episode: "The Counterfeiters"
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 nominations

Awards and nominations

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

Works cited

• Cullen, Frank; Hackman, Florence; McNeilly, Donald (2006). Vaudeville Old & New: An Encyclopedia of Variety Performances in America. Psychology Press. ISBN 978-0-415-93853-2.
• Lamparski, Richard (1985). Whatever Became Of ... ? (9th ed.). Crown. ISBN 978-0-517-55540-8.
• Willis, John; Monush, Barry, eds. (2010). Screen World 2007. Vol. 58. Hal Leonard Corporation. ISBN 978-1-557-83729-5.
• Williams, Sharon Lind (June–July 1991). "Russ Tamblyn". Filmfax. No. 27. p. 68.

External links

• Official website
• Russ Tamblyn at IMDb