Russ Tamblyn

Russ Tamblyn is an American actor and dancer who gained international fame in the 1950s and 1960s through his appearances in Hollywood musicals.

Beginning his career as a child actor under the name "Rusty" Tamblyn, his breakout role was Gabriel, the youngest brother in the musical Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954). He went on to play the title role in Tom Thumb (1958) and starred as Riff, the leader of the Jets, in the Academy Award-winning film adaptation of West Side Story (1961).

In a career detour during the mid-1960s, Tamblyn traveled to Japan to star in the sci-fi thriller War of the Gargantuas (1966). A co-production between Toho Studios and Henry G. Saperstein's UPA designed for international markets, Tamblyn replaced Tab Hunter as American scientist Dr. Paul Stewart. While the film achieved cult status stateside, rumors point to on-set friction between Tamblyn and Japanese director Honda Ishirô, reportedly due to Tamblyn ad-libbing many of his lines.

After stepping away from the Hollywood film industry during the 1970s to pursue art and theater, Tamblyn returned to television decades later, starring as the eccentric Dr. Jacoby in David Lynch's cult series Twin Peaks (1990), a role he reprised for the 2017 revival.