Russ Tamblyn
Russell Irving Tamblyn, 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. He subsequently portrayed Norman Page in the drama Peyton Place, for which he earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. In West Side Story, 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 and reprised the role in the show's 2017 revival.
Early life
Tamblyn was born on December 30, 1934, in Los Angeles, California, to actors Sally Aileen 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 and 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.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. 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, and he was given a small part.
Tamblyn appeared as young Saul in Cecil B. DeMille's Samson and Delilah. "That was a big break for me", he later said. "After that I worked a lot."
Tamblyn appeared in Reign of Terror, then was given a role in The Kid from Cleveland —billed third after stars George Brent and Lynn Bari—and in What Happened to Jo Jo?.
Tamblyn played the younger Bart Tare in the film noir Gun Crazy and Elizabeth Taylor's younger brother in Father of the Bride and its sequel, Father's Little Dividend, at MGM. He appeared in Captain Carey, U.S.A., The Gangster We Made, As Young as You Feel, Cave of Outlaws, Retreat, Hell!, and The Winning Team.
1953–1962: MGM and leading roles
MGM was impressed by Tamblyn's performance in Retreat, Hell! and signed him to a long-term contract. He called this "the second big break" of his career.Tamblyn's first role under the contract was as a young soldier in boot camp in Take the High Ground!, directed by Richard Brooks. 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. 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.
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. He has said his career "really took off" after the film.
Tamblyn was one of many studio contract players in the musical Deep in My Heart. He played Eleanor Parker's brother in the Western Many Rivers to Cross and was one of several young MGM actors in the musical Hit the Deck.
Tamblyn supported older actors in two Westerns: Robert Taylor and Stewart Granger in The Last Hunt, a flop; and Glenn Ford and Broderick Crawford in The Fastest Gun Alive, a big hit in which he performed an extraordinary "shovel" dance at a hoedown. He served 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. Back at MGM, he supported Glenn Ford and Gia Scala in Don't Go Near the Water, a comedy set among members of the U.S. Navy.
20th Century Fox borrowed Tamblyn to play Norman Page in Peyton Place opposite Lana Turner and Diane Varsi, a performance for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Tamblyn then went to England to play the title role in the musical Tom Thumb, made for George Pal. When he returned, MGM cast him as the lead in High School Confidential, a solid hit.
Tamblyn's career momentum was interrupted when he was drafted into the United States Army in 1958. During his service he was given leave to play a prominent supporting part in Cimarron.
Tamblyn's best-known musical role is as Riff, the leader of the Jets street gang in West Side Story. He then appeared in two MGM Cinerama movies, The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm, again for Pal, and How the West Was Won.
Tamblyn played Luke Sannerson in The Haunting 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.
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 the role of Gilligan in the TV series Gilligan's Island.In the 1960s he appeared in the TV series The Greatest Show on Earth, and Channing. Tamblyn played a Viking alongside Richard Widmark and Sidney Poitier in The Long Ships. Also in 1965 he appeared in Burke's Law and Days of Our Lives.
Tamblyn had the starring role in the low-budget MGM Western Son of a Gunfighter and starred in the 1966 Japanese kaiju film War of the Gargantuas. He guest starred on Tarzan, and Iron Horse. 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 for Al Adamson. He followed it with Scream Free!, The Last Movie, The Female Bunch, and Dracula vs. Frankenstein for Adamson.
He appeared on TV in Cade's County, Win, Place or Steal, The World Through the Eyes of Children, The Quest, The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams, and Nero Wolfe. He was also in Black Heat.
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 and is also credited for screenplay and choreography. He 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 the TV series Fame, Commando Squad for Fred Olen Ray, The Phantom Empire, Necromancer, B.O.R.N., The Bloody Monks, and an episode of Quantum Leap. He was in Aftershock and Wizards of the Demon Sword for Fred Olen Ray.
1990–2004: ''Twin Peaks'' and other work
In 1990–91, Tamblyn starred as Dr. Lawrence Jacoby on the David Lynch-created series Twin Peaks ; his scenes in the 1992 prequel film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me were cut.He appeared in Running Mates, Little Devils: The Birth, Cabin Boy, Desert Steel, and Babylon 5. He appeared on stage in Los Angeles in Zastrozzi. His work drifted back to straight to video: Starstruck, Rebellious, Attack of the 60 Foot Centerfold and Invisible Mom for Fred Olen Ray, Johnny Mysto: Boy Wizard, My Ghost Dog, and Little Miss Magic 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. The two also worked together on 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 Son of a Gunfighter.
In 2004, the Academy Film Archive preserved Tamblyn's mid-1960s works First Film and Rio Reel.
2005–present: Later roles
Tamblyn had supporting roles in Drive, Django Unchained, and Hits. He appeared several times in The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret and in the revival of Twin Peaks.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 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.In 2012, it was announced that Tamblyn was working on an autobiography, Dancing On The Edge. The book was released in 2024.
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.