kids encyclopedia robot

Orson Bean facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts
Quick facts for kids
Orson Bean
Orson Bean 1965.JPG
Bean in 1965
Born
Dallas Frederick Burrows

(1928-07-22)July 22, 1928
Died February 7, 2020(2020-02-07) (aged 91)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation
  • Actor
  • comedian
  • writer
  • producer
Years active 1952–2020
Spouse(s)
Jacqueline de Sibour
(m. 1956; div. 1962)

Carolyn Maxwell
(m. 1965; div. 1981)

(m. 1993)
Children 4

Orson Bean (born Dallas Frederick Burrows; July 22, 1928 – February 7, 2020) was an American film, television, and stage actor, comedian, writer, and producer. He was a game show and talk show host and a "mainstay of Los Angeles’ small theater scene." He appeared frequently on several televised game shows from the 1960s through the 1980s and was a longtime panelist on the television game show To Tell the Truth. "A storyteller par excellence", he was a favorite of Johnny Carson, appearing on The Tonight Show more than 200 times.

In the 1960s, Bean remarked in an interview that he became known as a "neocelebrity who's famous for being famous" for his appearances as a panellist on television prime-time gameshows.

Early life

Orson Bean was born in Burlington, Vermont, in 1928, while his first cousin twice removed, Calvin Coolidge, was President of the United States. Bean was the son of Marian Ainsworth (née Pollard) and George Frederick Burrows. His father was a founding member of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), a fund-raiser for the Scottsboro Boys' defense, and a 20-year member of the campus police of Harvard College. Bean said his house was "full of causes". He left home at 16 after his mother died.

Bean graduated from Rindge Technical School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1946. He then joined the United States Army and was stationed in Japan for a year. Following his military service, Bean began working in small venues as a stage magician before moving in the early 1950s to stand-up comedy. He studied theatre at HB Studio.

Stage name

In an interview on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson in 1974, Bean recounted the source of his stage name. He credited its origin to a piano player named Val at "Hurley's Log Cabin", a restaurant and nightclub in Boston where he had once performed. According to Bean, every evening before he went on stage at the nightclub, Val would suggest to him a silly name to use when introducing himself to the audience. One night, for example, the piano player suggested "Roger Duck," but the young comedian got very few laughs after using that name in his performance. On another night, the musician suggested "Orson Bean" and the comedian received a great response from the audience, a reaction so favorable that it resulted in a job offer that same evening from a local theatrical booking agent. Given his success on that occasion, Bean decided to keep using the odd-sounding but memorable name. (Bean again told the story nearly verbatim on the Carson show September 23, 1976, but Carson appeared to not remember having heard it before.)

Bean claimed that his name was a blend of the pompous and the amusing. He recalled that Orson Welles once called him over to a table and said, "You stole my name," and then dismissed him with a wave.

Rising comedian

In 1952, Bean made a guest appearance on NBC Radio's weekly hot-jazz series The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street, giving the young comic his first national exposure. The series, burlesquing stuffy symphonic and operatic broadcasts, had the host (always introduced as a doctor of music) reciting dignified commentary in jazz-musician slang. NBC had broadcast the series off and on since 1940, and it was revived for a 13-week run with "Dr. Orson Bean" now as full-time host. Bean's august, bemused delivery belied the fact that this eminent professor was only 24 years old.

For 10 years, he was the house comic at New York's Blue Angel comedy club. In 1954, The New York Times noted in a review of The Blue Angel, Bean's delivery was always well played, even if a joke fell flat. He once hosted a television show, "Blue Angel", on CBS. He "maintained a steady career since the 1950s and cut his teeth on and off Broadway before becoming a live-television staple."

Temporary eclipse

Bean was placed on the Hollywood blacklist for attending Communist Party meetings while dating a member, but continued to work through the 1950s and 1960s. "Basically I was blacklisted because I had a cute communist girlfriend," he said in a 2001 interview. He only stopped working in television for a year. An appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show was cancelled due to his being on the blacklist and he was rendered persona non grata there for years because of it. Sullivan eventually relented and re-booked him, declaring that he was the master of his own show, not "Campbell's Soup."

Theatre

On Broadway Bean starred in the original cast of Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? with Walter Matthau and Jayne Mansfield. Then, in 1961, he was featured in Subways Are for Sleeping with Sydney Chaplin, for which he received a Tony Award nomination as Best Featured Actor in a Musical. Bean performed in Never Too Late the following year. In 1964, he produced the Off-Off-Broadway musical Home Movies — which won an Obie Award. And the same year, he appeared in the Broadway production I Was Dancing. Bean starred in the musical John Murray Anderson’s Almanac. He also voiced and sang the role of Charlie Brown on MGM's original 1966 concept album of the musical You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, and starred in Illya Darling, the 1967 musical adaptation of the film Never on Sunday.

He was a chief creator and "mainstay" of The Pacific Resident Theatre in Venice, California.

Television

Bean played the title character in the Twilight Zone episode "Mr. Bevis" (1960) that was an unsuccessful television pilot. For the CBS anthology series The DuPont Show with June Allyson, he starred as John Monroe in "The Country Mouse" (1961), based on the works of the American humorist James Thurber, an episode which was later developed into the series My World and Welcome to It on NBC, starring William Windom in the Monroe role.

Among dozens of appearances, Bean starred in Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, and Desperate Housewives while tallying guest appearance credits on programs such as How I Met Your Mother, Modern Family, Two and a Half Men, and The Closer. Bean was a regular in both Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman and its spin-off Fernwood 2Nite. He also portrayed the shrewd businessman and storekeeper Loren Bray on the television series Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman throughout its six-year run on CBS in the 1990s. He played the main characters Bilbo and Frodo Baggins in the 1977 and 1980 Rankin/Bass animated adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, and The Return of the King. In 2000, he appeared in the Will & Grace episode "There But For the Grace of Grace" as Will Truman and Grace Adler's old college professor. He also appeared in the short-lived ABC sitcom Normal, Ohio as the homophobic father of a gay man (played by John Goodman).

Bean appeared as a patient in the final two episodes of 7th Heaven's seventh season in 2003. In 2005, Bean appeared in the sitcom Two and a Half Men in an episode titled "Does This Smell Funny to You?". He appeared in the 2007 How I Met Your Mother episode "Slapsgiving" as Robin Scherbatsky's 41-year-old boyfriend, Bob. In 2009 he was cast in the recurring role of Roy Bender, a steak salesman, who is Karen McCluskey's love interest on the ABC series Desperate Housewives. At the age of 87, Bean in 2016 appeared in "Playdates", an episode of the American TV sitcom Modern Family. He appeared in a 2017 episode of Teachers (TV Land, season 2, episode 11, "Dosey Don't"). In 2020, Bean appeared in the Netflix series Grace and Frankie, as the rascally character Bruno, a potential green card spouse for Joan-Margaret, in the episode "The Scent" (S6E10). It was Bean's final television performance.

Game shows

Doing stand-up comedy and magic tricks, and passing on wit and wisdom, he became a regular on I've Got a Secret, What's My Line?, and To Tell the Truth. He appeared on game shows originating from New York. He was a regular panelist on To Tell the Truth in versions from the late 1950s through 1991. He appeared on Super Password and Match Game, among other game shows. He hosted a pilot for a revamped version of Concentration in 1985; it was not picked up, but elements carried over to Classic Concentration with Alex Trebek, primarily the theme, graphics and announcer Gene Wood.

Talk and variety shows

A skilled raconteur, Bean was a popular guest on various television talk and variety shows, e.g., The Ed Sullivan Show, The Mike Douglas Show, and The Tonight Show (with both Jack Paar and Johnny Carson), where he made frequent appearances.

Film

Bean played the eccentric, foul-mouthed Dr. Lester in Spike Jonze's 1999 film, Being John Malkovich. He also appeared as a Holocaust survivor in the 2018 film The Equalizer 2 and as Meg Ryan's editor in Joe Dante's 1987 film Innerspace.

Personal life

Bean was married three times. His first marriage was in 1956 to actress Jacqueline de Sibour, whose stage name was Rain Winslow. Sibour was the daughter of French nobleman and pilot Vicomte Jacques de Sibour and his wife Violette B. Selfridge (daughter of American-born British department-store magnate Harry Gordon Selfridge). Before their divorce in 1962, Bean and Jacqueline had one child, Michele.

In 1965, he married actress and fashion designer Carolyn Maxwell, with whom he had three children: Max, Susannah, and Ezekiel. The couple divorced in 1981. Their daughter Susannah was married to journalist Andrew Breitbart from 1997 until his death in 2012. In the early 1970s Bean took his family on a sabbatical break from New York to live briefly on a farm commune in Victoria, Australia.

Bean's third wife was The Wonder Years co-star Alley Mills. They married in 1993 and lived in Los Angeles until his death in 2020. When Mills was baptized as an adult, Bean walked with her down to the beach so "Pastor Ken" from First Lutheran Church of Venice could baptize her in the waters of the Pacific Ocean. For many years, Bean and Mills played roles in First Lutheran's annual production of A Christmas Carol; Bean played Ebenezer Scrooge.

An admirer of Laurel and Hardy, Bean, in 1965, was a founding member of The Sons of the Desert. This international organization is devoted to sharing information about the lives of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy and preserving and enjoying their films.

In 1966, he helped found the 15th Street School in New York City, a primary school using the radical, democratic, free school Summerhill as a model. Bean wrote an autobiographical account about his life-changing experience with the orgone therapy developed by Austrian-born psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich.

He was a distant cousin of President Calvin Coolidge. In later life, "his politics turned more conservative" and he authored intermittent columns for Breitbart News. He ventured the thought that being a conservative in 21st-century Hollywood was much like being a suspected Communist back in the 1950s.

For much of his career and until his death, he was represented by the Artists & Representatives agency. In its brief statement after his death, they noted he was an "assiduous nurturer of rising talent."

Death

On February 7, 2020, while crossing Venice Boulevard in the Venice section of Los Angeles, Bean was struck by two vehicles, with the second vehicle striking him fatally. The driver of the first vehicle did not see Bean and "clipped him and he went down", said Los Angeles Police Department Captain Brian Wendling. "A second vehicle's driver was distracted by people trying to slow him down; when the driver looked ahead, a second traffic collision occurred and it caused the death of Bean".

Filmography

Film

Year Film Role Notes
1955 How to Be Very, Very Popular Toby Marshall
1959 Anatomy of a Murder Dr. Matthew Smith
1970 Twinky Hal
1978 Skateboard Himself
1982 Forty Deuce Mr. Roper
1987 Innerspace Lydia's Editor
1990 Instant Karma Dr. Berlin
1999 Being John Malkovich Dr. Lester
Unbowed Purdy
2001 Burning Down the House Sy
The Gristle Mr. Bowen
2002 Frank McKlusky, C.I. Mr Gafty
2004 Soccer Dog: European Cup Mayor Milton Gallagher
Cacophony Ferruccio short
2006 Alien Autopsy Homeless Man
2007 Mattie Fresno and the Holoflux Universe Raff Buddemeyer
Oranges Dennis
2018 The Equalizer 2 Sam Rubinstein

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1952 Goodyear Television Playhouse Performer Episode: Three Letters
Broadway Television Theatre Various 2 episodes
1952-1956 Westinghouse Studio One Various 3 episodes
1954 Robert Montgomery Presents Performer Episode: "It Happened in Paris"
1954–1963 The United States Steel Hour Various Roles 3 episodes
1955 The Best of Broadway Mortimer Brewster Episode: "Arsenic and Old Lace"
The Elgin Hour Arthur Episode: "San Francisco Fracas"
1956 Omnibus Narrator 2 episodes
1957 Kraft Television Theatre George Sanford Episode: "A Travel from Brussels"
Playhouse 90 Jack Chesney Episode: "Charley's Aunt"
1958 The Phil Silvers Show Pvt. Wally Gunther Episode: "Bilko's Insurance Company"
The Millionaire Newman Johnson Episode: "The Newman Johnson Story"
1959 Miracle on 34th Street Dr. William Sawyer Television Movie
1960 The Twilight Zone James B.W. Bevis Episode: "Mr. Bevis"
Once Around the Block Jimmy London The Play of the Week
1961 The DuPont Show with June Allyson John Monroe Episode: "The Secret Life of James Turber"
1962 Naked City Arnold Platt Episode: "To Walk Like a Lion"
1964 Vacation Playhouse Performer Episode: "The Bean Show"
1966 The Star-Wagon Stephen Minch Television Movie
1966–1970 NET Playhouse Multiple Roles 2 episodes
1970 A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court Hank / Sir Boss Voice, TV movie
Love, American Style Artie Kaufman Segment: "Love and the Teacher"
1975 Ellery Queen Warren Wright Episode: "The Adventure of the Chinese Dog"
1977 Forever Fernwood Reverend Brim Television Series
The Hobbit Bilbo Baggins Voice, TV movie
1978 Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman Reverend Brim Unknown episodes 1977–1978
The Love Boat Artie D' Angelo Episode: "Heads or Tails/Little People, The/Mona of the Movies"
1980 The Return of the King Frodo Baggins / Bilbo Baggins Television Movie
1982 One Life to Live Harrison Logan 1 episode
1984 Garfield in the Rough Billy Rabbit Television Short
The Fall Guy Jason Klemer Episode: October 31
1985 Super Password Himself Game Show Contestant / Celebrity Guest Star
1986–1987 The Facts of Life Oliver Thompson 3 episodes
1986–1989 Murder, She Wrote Ebeneezer McEnery 2 episodes
1990 Tiny Toon Adventures Gepetto Voice, Episode: "Fairy Tales for the 90's"
1991 Chance of a Lifetime Fred Television Movie
1992 Final Judgement Monsignor Corelli Made for Video
Just My Imagination Jeremy Stitcher TV movie
1993–1998 Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman Loren Bray 146 episodes
1997 California Loren Bray Unknown episodes
1998 Diagnosis: Murder Lewis Sweeney Episode: "Obsession: Part 1"
1999 Thanks Burnaby Fitzhugh Episode: "Spring"
2000 Manhattan, AZ Lew Goldberg 2 episodes
Ally McBeal Marty Episode: "In Search of Pygmies"
The King of Queens Carl Tepper Episode: "Surprise Artie"
Family Law Archbishop Phillips Episode: "Possession Is Nine Tenths of the Law"
Will & Grace Professor Joseph Dudley Episode: "There But for the Grace of Grace"
Normal, Ohio William 'Bill' Gamble, Sr. 7 episodes
2002 Becker Mr. Bennet Episode: "Piece Talks"
2003 7th Heaven Various 2 episodes
2004 Behind the Camera John Forsythe Voice, TV movie
Cold Case Harland Sealey Episode: "Red Glare"
2005 Two and a Half Men Norman Episode: "Does This Smell Funny to You?"
2006 Commander in Chief Bill Harrison Episode: "The Price You Pay"
2007 The Closer Donald Baxter Episode: "The Round File"
The Minor Accomplishments of Jackie Woodman Chick Episode: "Good Times and Great Oldies"
Women's Murder Club Harold Grant Episode: "Grannies, Guns and Love Mints"
How I Met Your Mother Bob Episode: "Slapsgiving"
2009 Safe Harbor Judge TV movie
2009–2012 Desperate Housewives Roy Bender Recurring role, 23 episodes
2011 Hot in Cleveland Dan Episode: "Funeral Crashers"
2012 A Golden Christmas 3 Mr. Cole Television Movie
2014 Mistresses Elderly Patient Episode: "Rebuild"
2016 Modern Family Marty Episode: "Playdates"
The Guest Book Edgar Episode: "Story Eight"
The Bold and the Beautiful Howard 2 episodes
Another Period Laverne Fusselforth V 2 episodes
2017 Teachers Jerry Episode: "Dosey Don't"
2018 Superstore Dr. Fogler Episode: "Delivery Day"
2020 Grace and Frankie Bruno Episode: "The Scent"

Awards and nominations

Year Award Category Nominated work Result Ref.
1962 Tony Awards Best Supporting Actor Subways Are for Sleeping Nominated
1964 Obie Award Distinguished Plays and Best Music Home Movies Won
1979 Grammy Awards Best Recording for Children The Hobbit Nominated
2000 Screen Actors Guild Award Outstanding Cast in a Motion Picture Being John Malkovich Nominated

Books

  • Me and the Orgone. Princeton, N.J: American College of Orgonomy Press. 1972. ISBN 0-9679670-1-5.
  • Too Much Is Not Enough. Secaucus, N.J: L. Stuart. 1988. ISBN 0-8184-0465-5.
  • 25 Ways to Cook a Mouse for the Gourmet Cat (Print). Secaucus, N.J: Carol Publishing Group. 1994. ISBN 1-55972-199-5.
  • M@il for Mikey: an odd sort of recovery memoir (Hardcover) (1st ed.). Fort Lee, New Jersey: Barricade Books. September 3, 2008. ISBN 978-1569803509. https://archive.org/details/mailformikeyodds0000bean.

Recordings

  • At the Hungry i (1959 Fantasy UFAN 7009), comedy
  • You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown (as Charlie Brown, 1966), comedy
  • I Ate the Baloney (1969 Columbia CS 9743), comedy

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Orson Bean para niños

kids search engine
Orson Bean Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.