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Pallace Clarke
Bill Ripley is a Hollywood director who takes a shine to Lara after seeing her in the University of New Hampshire’s production of Our Town by chance. He finds her after the show and essentially offers her a role in Singularity, a major movie he’s working on. The things that make Lara a good Emily—her relative innocence, beauty, and provinciality—seem to sell Ripley on her appeal as an actor. The role he casts her in is very similar to that of Emily, so Lara is able to perform it well. Ripley’s relationship to Lara teeters between the paternal and the vaguely sexual. He offers her gruff advice on navigating the industry, for instance, but he also asks her to swim in a tiny bikini in front of him before he casts her in his movie. Lara notices this behavior and generally accepts it. At times, Ripley seems almost protective over her, such as when he tells Charlie that she’s his niece, or when he flies to Michigan to bring her back to LA. When Lara moves back to LA temporarily to promote Singularity, she and Ripley fall into a friendly rapport, and she lives in his guest house. After seeing Duke in Fool for Love, Ripley casts him in a TV series, giving him his “big break.” Later, Sebastian ends up working with Ripley. He tells Lara that Ripley was always romantically in love with her and “waiting for her to grow up.”
Bill Ripley Quotes in Tom Lake
The Tom Lake quotes below are all either spoken by Bill Ripley or refer to Bill Ripley. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 4 Quotes
Of course, if some girl takes you to a room and starts telling you how cute this bikini is going to look on you, you figure it out. I thought of the sturdy navy one-piece my grandmother had bought, sitting in my duffel back at the hotel, the tags still on, and felt a surge of rage for having let myself be so duped. When I went back to the pool I didn’t say a word to any of them. I went to the diving board, bounced hard and high twice, then split the bright blue water with my hands. I did three laps with racing turns. Those fuckers wanted to see if I could swim? I’d show them how to swim.
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Chapter 17 Quotes
I had believed that Tom Lake was more enlightened than the average small town in Michigan, but the longer I stayed, the more I could see how it operated like the rest of the world. The directors and the choreographers were men. The men chose the plays, made the schedule, and ran the lights. The women made the food, styled the wigs, and glued false eyelashes onto eyelids. Cat was the woman with the needle and thread.
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Chapter 18 Quotes
“What about Pallace?” I asked Ripley.
“Who’s Pallace?”
“The girl.”
He shook his head. “I don’t need a girl. I have too many girls as it is.”
And there went Pallace, tumbling off in the breeze as Duke came with us. I knew what he was telling me, and I didn’t say another word about it.
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Bill Ripley Character Timeline in Tom Lake
The timeline below shows where the character Bill Ripley appears in Tom Lake. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 2
...gets the part. During the third night of the show, a Hollywood director named Bill Ripley is in the audience to see his niece perform. He finds Lara after the show...
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Chapter 4
In the story, Bill Ripley buys Lara’s flight to Los Angeles. In retrospect, Lara realizes that her simplicity and ability...
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Two weeks later, Ripley flies Lara out for another meeting. He tells her that he and the casting director...
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Chapter 5
After three years in LA with the movie still not out, Lara asks Ripley for advice. Reluctantly, Ripley suggests that she audition for a Broadway production of Our Town....
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...asks him what she needs to do, but Charlie brushes her off awkwardly, revealing that Ripley claimed to be Lara’s uncle. Now, Charlie tells Lara that he actually wanted to tell...
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Chapter 16
In the story, the phone in Lara’s hospital room rings and she picks up. Ripley is on the other end. He tells her that the hospital called him as her...
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Chapter 17
Meanwhile, Ripley persistently calls Tom Lake’s office and leaves messages for Lara. Duke becomes obsessed with Lara...
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Chapter 18
...processes Duke and Pallace’s betrayal. After a short while, however, her stupor is interrupted by Ripley’s unexpected arrival. He tells her that Duke called him and told him it was his...
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While Ripley is at the play, Lara halfheartedly packs. The next morning, she writes Cat a note,...
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In California, Ripley lets Lara stay in his pool house while she does publicity for the movie. The...
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Chapter 19
...Lara that being an actress isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Nell asks if Ripley ended up working with Duke, and Emily informs them that they worked on an Emmy-winning...
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Chapter 20
...Lara keeps one story secret. In Lara’s story, Duke is filming the show Rampart with Ripley, he calls her one day out of the blue. He asks her to visit him...
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...each other about their lives since they saw each other last. Sebastian informs Lara that Ripley is in love with her and was always waiting for her to “grow up” so...
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