Orson Bean

Instantly recognizable by his crewcut, Ivy League manner and dryly rendered New England accent, the wickedly funny Orson Bean was a fixture of early TV as a panelist ("I've Got a Secret" and later "To Tell the Truth", both CBS), raconteur ("The Tonight Show" NBC, with both Jack Paar and Johnny Carson) and actor ("Playhouse 90", "Studio One", both CBS; and "The Kraft Television Theater" NBC). After a troubled childhood that included his mother's suicide when he was 16, he made his show business debut as a stand-up comic in NYC but was soon making inroads in his first love, theater, appearing in the musical revue "John Murray Anderson's Almanac" and later acting in such Broadway productions as "Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?" (1955), "Mr. Roberts" (1956) "Nature's Way" (1957) and the musical "Subways Are For Sleeping" (1961).

Bean's feature film credits are few, the highlights being turns as Dr. Smith in Otto Preminger's "Anatomy of a Murder" (1959) and Lydia's editor in "Innerspace" (1987). He seemingly vanished during much of the 70s and 80s when by his own account he dropped out, moved to Australia and experimented with everything from group sex to dropping acid. He popped up as a regular on "Fernwood Tonight" (syndicated, 1997), the successor to "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman" and provided the voice of Bilbo Baggins for the NBC animated special "The Hobbit" (1977). In 1993, he captured the plum role of frontier storekeeper Loren Bray in the popular CBS Western series "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman", remaining with the show for its entire five-year run. Bean's first love remains the theater, and he and his third wife Alley Mills are partners in the L.A. Drama Critics Award-winning Pacific Resident Theatre Ensemble of Venice, CA.

• Also Credited As:
  Dallas Frederick Burrows
• Born:
  July 22, 1928 in Burlington, Vermont
• Job Titles:
  Actor, TV panelist, Comedian, Director

Family

• Father: George F Burrows.

Education

• Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Milestones

• 1952 Was a panelist on CBS' "I've Got a Secret"
• 1953 New York stage debut, "Men of Distinction"
• 1954 Hosted clever variety show, "The Blue Angel" (CBS), a summer replacement for "See It Now"
• 1955 Acted in star-studded "The Best of Broadway" (CBS) presentation of "Arsenic and Old Lace", with Helen Hayes, Billie Burke, Boris Karloff, Peter Lorre and Edward Everet Horton; played Mortimer Brewster
• 1955 Feature debut, "How to Be Very, Very Popular"
• 1955 Starred on Broadway in "Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?"
• 1956 Returned to Broadway as Ensign Pulver in "Mr Roberts"
• 1957 Appeared in "Playhouse 90" production of "Charley's Aunt"
• 1959 Regular on Merv Griffin-hosted version of "Keep Talking" (ABC)
• 1959 Played Dr Smith in "Anatomy of a Murder"
• 1960 Acted title role of "Mr Bevis", an eccentric young man loved by everyone and watched over by a guardian angel in a celebrated episode of "The Twilight Zone" (CBS)
• 1962 Received Tony nomination as Best Supporting or Featured Actor in a Musical for "Subways Are for Sleeping"
• 1978 Received Grammy nomination (with John Huston and Hans Conreid), best recording for children, for NBC's animated special "The Hobbit"; Bean was the voice of Bilbo Baggins
• 1984 Provided the voice of Billy Rabbit for CBS animated special "Garfield in the Rough"
• 1987 Played Lydia's editor in "Innerspace"
• 1997 Directed a Pacific Resident Theatre Ensemble production of "The Quick-Change Room" at the Intar Theater (NYC's Theater Row); starred wife Alley Mills
• 1998 Wrapped "Unbowed", acting in this project funded, in part, by a California state grant, under a provision of the Federal Job Training Partnership Act; Filmanthropic production company founded to provide on-the-job training to Hollywood's minorities, women, disabled and over-40 community
• 1999 Co-starred in "Being John Malkovich"
• 2000 Returned to series TV as co-star of "Normal, Ohio", a fall Fox sitcom starring John Goodman
• 2001 Played Ben Franklin in the L.A. Reprise! production of "1776"
• Appeared as panelist on the syndicated revival of "To Tell the Truth"
• Had regular role of the folksy frontier storekeeper Loren Bray in "Dr Quinn: Medicine Woman" (CBS)
• Left home at age 16 after his mother's suicide
• Made show business debut as stand-up comic in NYC
• Portrayed Reverend Brim in last season of the syndicated soap spoof "Forever Fernwood", a revamp of "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman"
• Raised in Parkinsville, Vermont followed by stint in Cambridge, Massachusetts
• Was a regular panelist on "To Tell the Truth" (CBS)