Rip Torn fan account lives on after death
Though its namesake actor died Tuesday, there might be no end to Twitter tributes.
Actor Rip Torn outlived Grumpy Cat, “Game of Thrones” and Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ stint as White House press secretary. He also lived longer than iTunes, Mad Magazine and “Jeffrey Epstein’s freewheelin’ international waters underage sex adventures,” may they rest in peace.
That’s according to tweets from the fan account @RipTornOutlives on Twitter, which has been devoted to “The Larry Sanders Show” star for nearly three years. It’s a novelty account that its owner says is now “obsolete” because Torn died Tuesday at 88 and no longer has things to outlive.
L.A.-based screenwriter Conor Sullivan started his account because he’s long loved Torn but also because he found it “so insane that this old, brash, hard-drinking wonderful maniac stayed alive when so many other people, places, and things did not,” according to a Twitter thread he posted Wednesday.
When news of the Emmy winner’s death surfaced Tuesday night, the condolences poured in — to Sullivan’s Twitter account.
“This is the craziest, most surreal thing,” Sullivan, 32, told The Times. “If I posted that my own family member died, I wouldn’t have gotten the same amount of condolences.”
What made the account notable was the appreciative snark Sullivan infused in each missive, especially those containing lazily Photoshopped images of Torn’s face.
“He’s this type of character actor that doesn’t exist anymore, and he kept living with respect, and there was no hatchet-job piece taking him down.”
Sullivan capitalized on that admiration when he began his account as “a fun way to get his name out there” and to keep track of the numerous celebrities who died in 2016, namely Garry Shandling, the pioneering cable TV star and writer who costarred with Torn on HBO’s “The Larry Sanders Show.” . It was after Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher died that Sullivan fired up the account because Torn “seemed to be surviving against all odds.”
The jokes then got sillier, turning into a near-daily commentary on pop-culture headlines, particularly those about celebrities dying, careers ending or institutions like Toys R Us shuttering.
But it was Sullivan’s politically charged fare, such as superimposing Torn’s face on the bodies of disgraced mogul Harvey Weinstein or former Trump strategist Steve Bannon, that garnered the most support online.
“I just thought it was even funnier that I could take something so politically charged and defuse it a bit with Rip’s face,” Sullivan said.
Nor is he ready to stop. Sullivan plans to continue his salute to the late actor, highlighting “great moments in Rip Torn history.” Recent tweets include recipes for Arthur’s favorite drink, the Salty Dog, or videos of Torn’s tour de force performances.
One follower pointed out that Torn outlived the Associated Press writer, Bob Thomas, who wrote the actor’s obituary before he himself died in 2014.
“That’s the best ending it could have had,” Sullivan said with a laugh, “that his obituary writer died before him.”