To hear Texas-born Rip Torn tell it, he’s strong. So strong, in fact, that if the only work were digging ditches, he, at 70, would go get a shovel. With a venerable stage career, a film ography that begins with Elia Kazan’s 1956 Baby Doll, and a new generation of fans since his robust comic turn in 1991’s Defending Your Life and six seasons on The Larry Sanders Show, Torn needn’t worry about getting acting gigs. To wit: this month’s Freddy Got Fingered, in which Torn’s a put-upon father battling a pesky son played by prankster Tom Green.

Did you know who Tom Green was before this movie?
I’d seen his work. He’s like the wicked Allen Funt.

He’s wacky, but is he a good actor?
He’s always believable in what he does. He can play very naturalistic, but he can play with great passion.

As a stage-trained actor, what did you find intriguing about the family dynamic in Freddy Got Fingered?
There’s a sexual component. Here’s a virile, young, good-looking son, and his mother just adores him. Where does that put the father?

Before getting raves for Defending Your Life and Larry Sanders, who’d have figured you’d have a comedy career?
I worked with Bob Hope and Lucille Ball in Critic’s Choice, and Bob was very encouraging to me. He said, “Aw, this damn kid’s trying to bring back the two-reelers. I’m the star!”

Why didn’t you play the lawyer—the part that made Jack Nicholson famous—in Easy Rider, even though Terry Southern wrote it for you?

It shows you how dumb I am. I was doing a Broadway play called The Cuban Thing, with Raul Julia. I was committed to being in that mess.

Didn’t you and Norman Mailer get into a fight while making the improvisational Maidstone?
He told me, “At the end, I want you to set up an assassination and take me out.” I said, “Wait a minute, not really take you out?” He said, “Well, yeah, make it look real.” I never bit Norman [as is rumored], but you can see I’ve got a little notch [Reveals a missing part of his right ear]. But we’re good friends.

In the ’60s and ’70s, you were branded a dangerous leftist for your civil-rights work. What’s it like to read your government file?
The most unusual one, the one that I’m most honored to be in, was when I was asked by Lena Horne to go to this meeting with Bobby Kennedy. That file says “prominent negroes meeting with the attorney general.” There was Lorraine Hansberry, James Baldwin, Harry Belafonte. It was probably one of those pivotal times in my life where I went with my heart instead of my brain.

Rip Torn is a funny name.
Uncle Roland Torn was the Big Rip, I’m the Showbiz Rip, and I have a cousin Sam who was called Rip. My boys say, “Uh-uh. No. When did this name get you anything but grief?” Well, when I couldn’t get a job, everybody would say, “Where do I know you from?” I said, “Crossword puzzles!” That kept my name alive for years.