At the Greenwich House Theater for a memorial for Rip Torn, awesome clips revealed the evolution of this legendary actor’s astonishing film career from Baby Doll (1956) to Bible epics through roles as a good guy and then menacing bad ass, onto his Emmy winning television work on “The Larry Shandling Show” and “30 Rock” with a hilarious scene with Alec Baldwin. A bit from his 1969 The Bearding of the President showed him with his “Nixon” nose, his own invention, and at least one friend opined that he would have been an even bigger presence in film and stage but for his politics.

But among the ample work that was not screened, was a bit of voice over in the Oscar winning documentary Harlan County USA. Filmmaker Barbara Kopple needed someone to say, “We’ve got our guns now,” and asked him to say the line so it could be heard. “I’ve never told anyone, but now I am telling you,” Kopple confessed to a crowd of New York friends and family, among them David Amram who led the speakers off and concluded with a special song for Rip, and accompanied Rip’s twin sons with Geraldine Page, Jon and Tony Torn, in a reading of Whitman’s “Song of Myself.”

Part two of Rip Torn’s memorial—SAG hosted a memorial in Los Angeles last week–, this memorial/ birthday celebration revealed Torn’s love of fishing, family, and his dedication to craft. A blowup of Rip Torn as Hamlet adorned the stage, a remembrance of the time he wanted to explore the character and staged Shakespeare himself at his Sanctuary Theater, housed in this very West Village locale. Geraldine performed, as did Amy Wright, who would become wife #3, and his widow.

Two nieces read his first cousin Sissy Spacek’s tribute to the New York crowd. Eighteen years his junior, Sissy visited them in the city. Rip, with Geraldine, quickly embraced her, folding her into their Bohemian lifestyle, bringing her to Broadway theaters with the other children as the actors performed in their respective plays. Sardis would deliver dinner backstage, with waiters in waiter garb. When Sissy announced she wanted to become an actress, she asked Rip for advice. He said, “1. Do it for the right reasons—not because you want to see your name on a marquee. 2. Study your art. 3. Don’t tell anyone you are related to me. It wouldn’t help.”