Longtime actor Rip Torn’s cause of death was due to his years-long battle with Alzheimer’s disease, it was reported.
The “Men in Black” star died at his Connecticut home in July 2019, but TMZ on Friday obtained a copy of his death certificate, which showed his cause of death was “due to (or as a consequence of) Alzheimer’s dementia.”
The certificate said that Torn, who was 88, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s years before his death, and he was buried at a cemetery in Poughkeepsie, New York, later that month.
Reports earlier this year said he died at his home in Connecticut.
The longtime actor is survived by his six children, including daughters Danae, Angelica, Katie, and Claire as well as his sons Tony and Jon, noted the New York Daily News. He is also survived by his wife, Amy Wright.
Torn appeared in HBO’s “The Larry Sanders Show,” winning an Emmy Award. He also appeared in ”Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story,” “Will and Grace,” “30 Rock,” “Cross Creek,” and other productions in a career that spanned decades, according to his IMDB page. For his role in “Cross Creek,” he was nominated for an Academy Award in 1984.
However, he is probably best known for his role as MIB agency boss Zed in “Men in Black” and “Men in Black II,” which both starred Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones.
Before that, his career hit a dry spell in the 1970s. “I wouldn’t say that I was blacklisted,” he told The Associated Press in 1984, “but the word got around that I was difficult and unreliable. Unreliable! In all my years in the theater I have never missed a performance.”
Of note, in 1994, actor and director Dennis Hopper told an audience on “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno” that Torn once pulled a knife in a New York restaurant after complaining about being replaced in “Easy Rider.” For that, Torn sued Hopper for slander and won $475,000 after a judgment was handed down in his favor, AP reported.
Notable Celebrity Deaths in 2019
Ric Ocasek![Musician Ric Ocasek and model Paulina Porizkova attend the 20th Anniversary Celebration of the Children's Defense Fund's Beat the Odds Program at Guastavino's in New York City on Dec. 6, 2010. (Michael Loccisano/Getty Images)](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg.theepochtimes.com%2Fassets%2Fuploads%2F2015%2F09%2F107363919.jpg&w=1200&q=75)
Eddie Money
![Musician Eddie Money performs onstage during the iHeart80s Party 2017 at SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., on Jan. 28, 2017. (Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images)](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg.theepochtimes.com%2Fassets%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F08%2F24%2Fsinger-Eddie-Money.jpg&w=1200&q=75)
Peter Fonda
![Peter Fonda in a 2009 photo. (Glenn Francis of www.PacificProDigital.com via Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license)](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg.theepochtimes.com%2Fassets%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F08%2F16%2Fpeter-fonda.jpg&w=1200&q=75)
Beth Chapman
![Duane 'Dog the Bounty Hunter" Chapman (L) and Beth Chapman attend the Vettys Presidential Inaugural Ball at Hay-Adams Hotel in Washington on Jan. 20, 2017. (Teresa Kroeger/Getty Images)](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg.theepochtimes.com%2Fassets%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F05%2F18%2FBeth-Chapman-fb-1-e1561485420896.jpg&w=1200&q=75)
Doris Day
![Actress and animal rights activist Doris Day poses for photos after receiving the Cecil B. DeMille Award she was presented with at the annual Golden Globe Awards ceremony in Los Angeles on Jan. 28, 1989. (AP Photo)](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg.theepochtimes.com%2Fassets%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F05%2F21%2FET-dau1.jpg&w=1200&q=75)
John Singleton
![John Singleton attends the 90th Annual Academy Awards at Hollywood & Highland Center in Hollywood, Calif., on March 4, 2018. He died in late April after a stroke. (Neilson Barnard/Getty Images)](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg.theepochtimes.com%2Fassets%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F04%2F21%2FJohn-Singleton-1.jpg&w=1200&q=75)
Nipsey Hussle
![Nipsey Hussle and Lauren London in Los Angeles, on Feb. 7, 2019. The rapper was shot dead in late March. (Gregg DeGuire/Getty Images)](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg.theepochtimes.com%2Fassets%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F04%2F05%2FNipsey-Hussle-Lauren-London.jpg&w=1200&q=75)
Luke Perry
![Undated file photo of Luke Perry. (Newsmakers)](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg.theepochtimes.com%2Fassets%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F03%2F06%2FET1.jpg&w=1200&q=75)
Peter Tork
![Peter Tork of the Monkees died at 77 in Feb. 2019. (Noel Vasquez/Getty Images)](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg.theepochtimes.com%2Fassets%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F02%2F22%2FPeter-Tork-fb.jpg&w=1200&q=75)
Albert Finney
![British actor Albert Finney died in Feb. 2019 at the age of 82. (Lucy Nicholson/AFP/Getty Images)](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg.theepochtimes.com%2Fassets%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F02%2F08%2Falbert-getty-finney.jpg&w=1200&q=75)