Orson Bean facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Orson Bean
Bean in 1965
Born	Dallas Frederick Burrows (1928-07-22)July 22, 1928 Burlington, Vermont, U.S.
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)​ Alley Mills ​ (m. 1993)​
Children	4

Orson Bean (born Dallas Frederick Burrows; July 22, 1928 – February 7, 2020) was an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer. He was famous for his roles in movies, TV shows, and plays. Orson Bean was also a popular host and guest on many TV game shows and talk shows. He appeared on The Tonight Show more than 200 times. He was known as a great storyteller.

In the 1960s, Bean said he became known as a "neocelebrity." This meant he was famous mostly for appearing on prime-time TV game shows.

Early Life and Start

Orson Bean was born in Burlington, Vermont, in 1928. His distant cousin, Calvin Coolidge, was once President of the United States. Orson's parents were Marian Ainsworth and George Frederick Burrows. His father helped start the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). He also worked for the Harvard College police. Orson said his home was always full of important causes. He left home at age 16 after his mother passed away.

Bean finished high school at Rindge Technical School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1946. After that, he joined the United States Army. He was stationed in Japan for one year. After his time in the military, Bean started performing magic tricks in small places. In the early 1950s, he began doing stand-up comedy. He also studied acting at HB Studio.

How He Got His Stage Name

In 1974, Orson Bean shared the story of his stage name on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. He said a piano player named Val gave him the idea. This was at a restaurant and nightclub in Boston called "Hurley's Log Cabin." Before Orson went on stage, Val would suggest a funny name for him to use.

One night, Val suggested "Orson Bean." When Orson used this name, the audience loved it! He got a job offer from a booking agent that same night. Because of this success, Orson decided to keep the unique name. He thought his name sounded both fancy and funny. The famous actor Orson Welles once joked that Bean "stole" his name.

Becoming a Comedian

In 1952, Orson Bean appeared on NBC Radio's jazz show, The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street. This was his first time being known across the country. He became the host of the show. He sounded very wise and serious, even though he was only 24 years old.

For ten years, he was the main comedian at the Blue Angel comedy club in New York. In 1954, The New York Times praised his performances. They said his delivery was always good, even if a joke didn't land perfectly. He also hosted a TV show called "Blue Angel" on CBS. He had a steady career in entertainment since the 1950s. He performed in plays both on and off Broadway.

A Brief Challenge

Orson Bean faced a challenge in his career. He was put on the Hollywood blacklist for a short time. This happened because he attended some meetings with a girlfriend who was a member of the Communist Party. He said, "Basically I was blacklisted because I had a cute communist girlfriend." Even so, he kept working through the 1950s and 1960s. He only stopped working in television for about a year.

An appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show was canceled because of the blacklist. He was not allowed on that show for years. But eventually, Ed Sullivan decided to book him again. Sullivan said he was in charge of his own show.

Theatre Work

On Broadway, Orson Bean starred in the play Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? with Walter Matthau. In 1961, he was in Subways Are for Sleeping. For this role, he was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical. The next year, Bean performed in Never Too Late.

In 1964, he produced an Off-Off-Broadway musical called Home Movies. This musical won an Obie Award. That same year, he was in the Broadway show I Was Dancing. Bean also starred in John Murray Anderson's Almanac. He was the voice and singer for Charlie Brown on the 1966 album of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown. In 1967, he starred in Illya Darling, a musical based on the movie Never on Sunday.

He was also a main creator and important part of Pacific Resident Theatre in Venice, California.

Television Roles

Orson Bean played the main character in "Mr. Bevis" (1960), an episode of The Twilight Zone. This episode was meant to be a pilot for a new show, but it wasn't picked up. He also starred in "The Country Mouse" (1961) for The DuPont Show with June Allyson. This episode was based on stories by James Thurber. It later became the TV series My World and Welcome to It.

Bean appeared in many TV shows. He was in Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman and Desperate Housewives. He also made guest appearances on shows like How I Met Your Mother, Modern Family, Two and a Half Men, and The Closer. He was a regular on Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman and its spin-off Fernwood 2Nite.

In the 1990s, he played Loren Bray, a smart businessman and storekeeper, on Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. He was on this CBS series for six years. Bean also voiced Bilbo Baggins and Frodo Baggins in the 1977 and 1980 animated movies based on J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Return of the King.

In 2000, he was in the Will & Grace episode "There But For the Grace of Grace." He played an old college professor. He also appeared in the show Normal, Ohio as the father of a gay man.

In 2003, Bean was a patient in the last two episodes of 7th Heaven. In 2005, he was in an episode of Two and a Half Men. In 2007, he played Bob, Robin Scherbatsky's 41-year-old boyfriend, on How I Met Your Mother. From 2009 to 2012, he had a recurring role as Roy Bender on Desperate Housewives. Roy was a steak salesman and Karen McCluskey's boyfriend.

At 87 years old, Bean appeared in a 2016 episode of Modern Family called "Playdates." He was also in an episode of Teachers in 2017. His final TV performance was in 2020 on the Netflix series Grace and Frankie. He played a character named Bruno.

Game Shows

Orson Bean was a regular on many game shows. He did stand-up comedy and magic tricks. He also shared his wit and wisdom. He was a regular on I've Got a Secret, What's My Line?, and To Tell the Truth. He was a regular panelist on To Tell the Truth from the late 1950s until 1991. He also appeared on Super Password and Match Game. In 1985, he hosted a pilot for a new version of Concentration.

Talk and Variety Shows

Orson Bean was a great storyteller. This made him a popular guest on many TV talk and variety shows. He appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, The Mike Douglas Show, and The Tonight Show. He was a frequent guest with both Jack Paar and Johnny Carson as hosts.

Film Roles

Orson Bean played the unusual Dr. Lester in Spike Jonze's 1999 movie, Being John Malkovich. He also appeared as a Holocaust survivor in the 2018 film The Equalizer 2. In Joe Dante's 1987 film Innerspace, he played Meg Ryan's editor.

Personal Life

Orson Bean was married three times. His first marriage was in 1956 to actress Jacqueline de Sibour. They had one child, Michele, before divorcing in 1962.

In 1965, he married actress and fashion designer Carolyn Maxwell. They had three children: Max, Susannah, and Ezekiel. They divorced in 1981. Their daughter Susannah was married to journalist Andrew Breitbart.

Bean's third wife was The Wonder Years co-star Alley Mills. They married in 1993 and lived in Los Angeles. They stayed together until his death in 2020. Orson and Alley often played roles in their church's yearly production of A Christmas Carol. Orson played Ebenezer Scrooge.

Orson Bean admired the comedy duo Laurel and Hardy. In 1965, he helped start The Sons of the Desert. This group shares information about Laurel and Hardy and enjoys their films.

In 1966, he helped create the 15th Street School in New York City. This was a primary school that followed the ideas of the Summerhill free school.

Orson Bean was a distant cousin of President Calvin Coolidge. Later in his life, his political views became more conservative. He wrote articles for Breitbart News. He once said that being a conservative in Hollywood today was like being suspected of being a Communist in the 1950s.

Death

On February 7, 2020, Orson Bean was crossing Venice Boulevard in Venice, California. He was hit by two vehicles. The first car "clipped him and he went down," according to police. The driver of the second car was distracted by people trying to warn him. This second collision caused Orson Bean's death.

Filmography

Film

Television

Awards and Nominations

Books Written by Orson Bean

• Me and the Orgone (1972)
• Too Much Is Not Enough (1988)
• 25 Ways to Cook a Mouse for the Gourmet Cat (1994)
• M@il for Mikey: an odd sort of recovery memoir (2008)

Recordings

• At the Hungry i (1959), comedy album
• You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown (as Charlie Brown, 1966), comedy album
• I Ate the Baloney (1969), comedy album

See also

In Spanish: Orson Bean para niños