A biography for Rip Tornhasn’t been written yet.
“Let the other guys do the crybaby stuff. Go for the laughs.”
“I think most actors are shy. I really do. The greatest actors can disappear. I had friends call me the Blend-In Man.”
“Don't ever humiliate a man. If you're gonna have to dress him out, you take him aside and do it that way. That's the one thing I don't like about Hollywood: They go in for public humiliation. You shouldn't do that to a man.”
“When I grew up, people said, 'You'll never be the man your dad was.' And I said, 'Gee, I hope not.'”
“There's always some kind of blacklist throughout history. But the difference is, in America they usually let you live.”
“Anything new is always considered the devil's tool.”
“I've got two old Volvos, two old Subarus, and an old Ford Ranger. If you've got an old car, you've gotta have at least several old cars, 'cause one's always gonna be in the garage.”
“If you're lucky enough to have a pretty girl love you and share herself and sleep with you, make that your secret. The best way to spoil love is by talking to too many people about it.”
“Everybody says, 'You impress me as a guy who never wanted to be a movie star.' I say, 'Everybody in the world wants to be a movie star.'”
“I used to be friends with Miles Davis. He didn't like many folks. I lived across the street from him.”
“Be your own politics, grow your own garden, and maybe you can help out more.”
“You can never turn your back on the ocean.”
“Never think you're better than anyone else, but don't let anyone treat you like you're worse than they are.”
“I've never hit anybody who hasn't clocked me two or three times.”
“I honor religion except when it gets into shedding blood.”
“If I could just get a piece of lemon, it'd be great.”