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Rip Torn Described As "Heartbreaking," "Paranoid"
By
Jen Chung
Published Feb 3, 2010
Modified Feb 3, 2010
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By
Jen Chung
Published Feb 3, 2010
Modified Feb 3, 2010
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In the wake of his arrest for breaking into a Connecticut bank while armed and drunk, Rip Torn's daughter tells the Post's Michael Riedel, "My father is a brilliant man, but so much has been wasted. He's pissed away so much—so much of his time and so much of his talent."
Angelica Torn says of her father, who apparently thought the Litchfield Bancorp was his own home (hence the breaking and entering), "It's heartbreaking. But maybe now he's finally going to have to face the truth about himself and his drinking."
Riedel also notes that Torn, who was an acclaimed stage actor discovered by Elia Kazan, "has long believed the CIA and the FBI are out to get him... With the drinking came paranoia... In the 1970s, somebody fired a shot at his Chelsea town house. To this day, he refuses to have the window with the bullet hole in it repaired."
A friend explains, "He thinks it's proof that 'they' really are out to get him." Torn reportedly sleeps with a gun under his pillow, and another person offers, "Rip's always got a gun on him. He's a hunter, and he's paranoid." Torn, who is free on $100,000 bail, is at rehab.
Tagged
bank robbery
breaking and entering
drinking
drunk
gun
paranoia
Rip Torn
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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