* Los Angeles, CA 30.12.1934

Veteran Hollywood character player and occasional lead since entering films as a 13-year-old in Joseph Losey's THE BOY WITH GREEN HAIR (1948) starring child star Dean Stockwell.

Tamblyn proved capable as an eager juvenile in such diverse films as GUN CRAZY (1949), playing John Dall's firearms-obsessed protagonist as a teen; Cecil B. DeMille's SAMSON AND DELILAH (1949); and Vincente Minnelli's Spencer Tracy-Elizabeth Taylor pairings, FATHER OF THE BRIDE (1950) and FATHER'S LITTLE DIVIDEND (1951). He later won acclaim for his remarkably acrobatic dancing ability in such screen musicals as SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS (1954), HIT THE DECK (1955) and WEST SIDE STORY (1961). In the latter Tamblyn played Tony's troublemaking friend Riff.

The self-taught hoofer also turned up in a number of masculine movies—Westerns, war films, sports pictures. Tamblyn garnered an Oscar nomination in a supporting role as a mama's boy in the hit melodrama PEYTON PLACE (1957). Still boyish in his mid-20s, he proved a terrific TOM THUMB (1958) in the lavish George Pal-directed musical fantasy. A five-inch tall Tamblyn was dazzling dancing opposite Pal's animated wooden figures. Tamblyn starred as the new kid in town in the teen exploitation "classic" about the dangers of dope, HIGH SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL! (1958). This project would prove prophetic for the course of Tamblyn's career from the mid-60s on. Some bright spots followed: WEST SIDE STORY (1961); Pal's THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF THE BROTHERS GRIMM (1962); and a memorable turn as a freckle-faced urban hipster confronted by the forces of the supernatural in Robert Wise's classic ghost story THE HAUNTING (1963).

By the mid-60s, Tamblyn's Hollywood career had begun to decline with roles in several less-than-stellar international co-productions. By 1970 he was an exploitation star in films that ran the gamut from good-humored (Inoshiro Honda's WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS, 1966) to risible (Al Adamson's SATAN'S SADISTS, 1970) to inexplicable (Dennis Hopper's oddity THE LAST MOVIE, 1971). Tamblyn, who had once acted for such major Hollywood directors as Minnelli and Stanley Donen, was now favoured by fringe genre auteurs like Al Adamson (DRACULA VS. FRANKENSTEIN; THE FEMALE BUNCH, both 1971) and Fred Olen Ray (COMMANDO SQUAD, 1987; THE PHANTOM EMPIRE, 1989). He was also involved with HUMAN HIGHWAY (1982), a very strange feature project directed by veteran rocker Neil Young, both as an actor and co-writer (with Young, Stockwell and several others).

A bearded and nearly unrecognisable Tamblyn made a minor comeback with a recurring role on "Twin Peaks" (ABC 1990-91) as oddball psychiatrist Dr. Lawrence Jacoby, professional confidant (and secret paramour) of the slain Laura Palmer. The cult series from David Lynch also reunited Tamblyn with Richard Beymer, WEST SIDE STORY'S Tony. He had a small but memorable role in CABIN BOY as Chocki, a half-man/half-shark creature who takes a liking to Chris Elliott.

1948   THE BOY WITH GREEN HAIR
1949   GUN CRAZY/DEADLY IS THE FEMALE        
1949   THE KID FROM CLEVELAND  
1949   REIGN OF TERROR/THE BLACK BOOK        
1949   SAMSON AND DELILAH       
1950   CAPTAIN CAREY, U.S.A.     
1950   FATHER OF THE BRIDE       
1951   AS YOUNG AS YOU FEEL    
1951   FATHER'S LITTLE DIVIDEND
1952   RETREAT, HELL!      
1952   THE WINNING TEAM 
1953   TAKE THE HIGH GROUND    
1954   DEEP IN MY HEART  

1954   SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS
     

 
1955   HIT THE DECK         
1955   MANY RIVERS TO CROSS    
1956   THE FASTEST GUN ALIVE   
1956   THE LAST HUNT         
1956   THE YOUNG GUNS    
1957   DON'T GO NEAR THE WATER
1957   PEYTON PLACE       
1958   HIGH SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL!/YOUNG HELLIONS 
1958   TOM THUMB  
1960   CIMARRON    

1961   WEST SIDE STORY 

1962   HOW THE WEST WAS WON 
1962   THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF THE BROTHERS GRIMM      
1963   FOLLOW THE BOYS     

1963   THE HAUNTIN

 
1964   THE LONG SHIPS     
1966   SON OF A GUNFIGHTER      
1966   THE WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS    
1970   SATAN'S SADISTS   
1971   DRACULA VS. FRANKENSTEIN/THE REVENGE OF DRACULA
1971   THE FEMALE BUNCH 
1971   THE LAST MOVIE/CHINCHERO       
1975   WIN, PLACE OR STEAL/THE BIG PAYOFF   
1976   BLACK HEAT  
1982   HUMAN HIGHWAY (screenplay)
1986   THE FANTASY FILM WORLD OF GEORGE PAL       
1987   BLOOD SCREAMS     
1987   COMMANDO SQUAD 
1987   CYCLONE      
1989   B.O.R.N.       
1989   NECROMANCER        
1989   THE PHANTOM EMPIRE       
1990   AFTERSHOCK
1991   WIZARDS OF THE DEMON SWORD  
1992   RUNNING MATES     
1994   CABIN BOY