It's
a fact that they're cousins. Rip was known as Skip as he was growing up in Granger.
He returns to Granger from his farm in Connecticut from time to time, but it's
usually on the sad occasion of funerals.
Taylor,
Texas claims Rip in their chamber of commerce brochures and Fayetteville,
Texas has an 8x10 glossy of Sissy in their little museum. That's because Sissy's
great-grandfather once owned a huge two-story house just off the square in Fayetteville.
He sold it and moved to Williamson County, where his son and eventually Sissy
were born and raised.
When
Rip got in the movies, he may have mentioned to Sissy during his visits home,
that it beat working. Anyway, she checked into it and before long, she became
Carrie. Eventually her name became more of a household word than her cousin's.
Martinets shared
his memories of Hollywood actors Rip Torn and Sissy Spacek, native Texans
who spent a good part of their respective childhoods visiting Mary Spacek’s house
across the street from where Martinets lived.
“It was the first two-story
house in Granger,” Martinets
said. “That was very exciting to a kid.”
Martinets remembered Rip Torn
as a little boy who would occasionally challenge Mary Spacek’s patience. “He had
a little yellow scooter he drove like mad. His grandmother (Mary Spacek) would
yell out, ‘Slow down, Skippy! Slow down!”
As might be imagined, Skippy
rarely heeded the warning.
Torn presided over Granger’s Lakefest in 1986,
not long after he received an Academy Award nomination for his portrayal of the
farmer Marsh Turner in “Cross Creek.”
Though Torn doesn’t make it back
to Granger as often as he
used to, Martinets remembered when he flew back to Texas from Spain, where he
was playing Judas in “King of Kings,” to attend Mary Spacek’s funeral.
“I remember him going up and kissing the casket,” he said. “I remember that because
it was such a touching, human moment. It was genuine. He wasn’t acting.”
Sissy Spacek
appeared at Lakefest the year before Torn, her cousin, had the honor. She had
just won an Academy Award for her performance as Loretta Lynn in “Coal Miner’s
Daughter.” Like Torn, she served as Grand Marshal and received a proclamation
from the state declaring May 11, 1985 as “Sissy Spacek Day.”
Spacek’s
father, A.E. Spacek, was with his daughter at the 1985 Lake Fest and spoke to
a reporter with mixed emotions about his old hometown.
“It’s the same
story to be found in all small towns which used to be agriculturally important,”
he said. “Now they’re dependent on industry and they’re in trouble…This is the
friendliest, most wholesome town I know. This is a great little community. These
people never give up – no way – and I’m proud to call it my hometown.” more
Forum
Subject:
Sissy Spacek
Your
story about Rip Torn and Sissy Spacek is mostly true. They were cousins, and Rip
Torn played a very important role in Sissy becoming the star that she is. However,
she was born and raised in Quitman,
Texas which is Wood County. They have streets named after her there, I would
be surprised if folks from Quitman haven't already contacted you....they are very
proud of their home town girl. I hear she was a majorette and the home coming
queen when she was a senior there. After she graduated, she moved to New York
with her cousin Rip Torn and the rest is history... - James C. Neal, Mineola,
Texas, August 12, 2005
Subject:
Sissy Spacek @ Mineola
One
other note on Sissy Spacek: There was a write up in the Dallas Morning News one
time telling the story about the closest movie theater to see her movies was the
Select Theater
in Mineola. The funny thing was that the Select Theater didn't have enough
Ss to spell her name on the Marque out front. So, her name never was spelled right.
- James C. Neal, Mineola, Texas, August 13, 2005
