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.
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
