Short Biography

Discovered at the age of ten by actor Lloyd Bridges after acting in a play, Tamblyn`s first film appearance was a small non-speaking role in 1948`s The Boy With Green Hair. Shortly thereafter, he portrayed the young Saul in Cecil B. DeMille`s 1949 version of Samson and Delilah. He played the younger version of John Dall`s character in the 1950 film noir Gun Crazy. Later the same year, he later had a minor role as Spencer Tracy`s son and Elizabeth Taylor`s younger brother in Father of the Bride, as well as in the following year`s sequel, Father`s Little Dividend, both directed by Vincente Minnelli. His history as a champion gymnast in high school and abilities as an acrobat were well suited for his breakout role as Gideon, the youngest brother in 1954`s Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Earlier roles included a young soldier in boot camp in 1953`s Take The High Ground. Other musical performances and the title role in 1958`s tom thumb and Danny, one of the sailors in the 1955 film version of Hit the Deck. He next appeared as Riff, the leader of the Jets in the 1961 film West Side Story, an adaptation of the Broadway musical of the same name. He also portrayed Norman Page in the 1957 film adaptation of Peyton Place, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award in the category of Best Supporting Actor. He played Tony Baker, a cocky, slang-slinging, switch-blading, drag-racing, dope-dealing tough teen in 1958`s "High School Confidential".

In 1960 he portrayed The Cherokee Kid alongside Glenn Ford in Cimarron. He had appeared early with Glenn Ford and Broderick Crawford in The Fastest Gun Alive (1956) where he performed an extraordinary "shovel" dance at a hoe-down early in the film. He appeared in the 1962 Cinerama movie How the West Was Won with a notable cast that included Henry Fonda, Karl Malden, Gregory Peck, Debbie Reynolds, James Stewart and John Wayne. He was seen the next year as Orm in The Long Ships, as Luke Sanderson in The Haunting, and as Lt. "Smitty" Smith in Follow the Boys. Tamblyn starred in the 1966 Japanese kaiju film War of the Gargantuas. Tamblyn played the supporting role in Neil Young`s 1982 Human Highway while also credited for screenplay and choreography. He appeared in the horror film Necromancer in 1988. Tamblyn is self-credited as director, choreography and actor for Neil Young`s Greendale concert tour.

From 1990–1991, Tamblyn starred as Dr. Lawrence Jacoby on the David Lynch-created series Twin Peaks, though his scenes in the 1992 film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me were cut. In 1999, he portrayed Dr. Hayden on the soap opera Days of our Lives and in 2000, he made an appearance with daughter Amber on another soap opera, General Hospital, as the character he portrayed ten years earlier on Twin Peaks. Tamblyn has also appeared in television series such as Fame, the 1980s spin-off of the film of the same name, Quantum Leap, Nash Bridges and Babylon 5.

Tamblyn has been married three times and has three children from his first and third marriages. He is the father of actress Amber Tamblyn, who played the starring role in the CBS television series Joan of Arcadia. Tamblyn acted opposite his daughter in several episodes of the show as God in the form of a man walking a dog. The two have also worked together in Rebellious and Johnny Mysto: Boy Wizard.

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