And would I perhaps consider writing another story? I loved his solo piece “Safe at Home: An Evening With Orson Bean,” a theatrical portrait of an entertainer as a wounded young man, and he was so pleased with what I wrote he wanted me to attend it again and again and again. The title of one of his memoirs, “Too Much Is Not Enough,” reveals just how self-aware he was of his psychological makeup as a showman. ![]() This is their fossil fuel, the source of energy driving them past their insecurities into the limelight, where momentarily they can feel safe and whole. RIP.- Barbra Streisand February 8, 2020īean had that quality that makes actors run: neediness. ![]() Generous and entertaining in his personal exchanges, Bean made it easy to look the other way. But as a critic who judges performers by the work they do and as a human being who has a few conservatives in his own family, I had no interest in digging into these matters. In truth, there were things I didn’t want to know about, such as his columns for his son-in-law Andrew Breitbart’s website. (Did you know he was nominated for a Tony Award for his performance in “Subways Are for Sleeping”? Having missed his heyday on Broadway, I found out only a few years ago ago.) Orson Bean of “Match Game” and “The Merv Griffin Show” (my earliest memories of him) produced a show by off-off-Broadway trailblazer Al Carmines? His career, of which I had been ignorant of whole swaths, only seemed to grow more unexpected the longer you knew him. “Eons ago, back in Al Carmines’ day I saw a show of his at Judson called ‘Home Movies.’ I loved it, remounted it and moved it to the Provincetown. “I was afraid a critic might cover it who didn’t get it,” he wrote. Bean not only sent me an email to tell me what my words meant to him, he also kept up a correspondence that lasted until last fall when he wrote a note of appreciation in September for my review of the revival of the Gertrude Stein-Al Carmines musical “In Circles” at the Odyssey Theatre. Occasionally, I’ll hear from an actor I have praised in print. “This is a performance not to be missed,” I wrote, adding at the end of the review that “Trumbull is a scholarly Falstaff who deserves a comedy all his own.” Bean, who died Friday night at age 91 in Los Angeles after being hit by a car, had no trouble supplying the necessary flamboyance and fireworks. I don’t remember much about the play, except that Bean filled the production with the electricity of an old pro given a role that needed as much personality as the stage could possibly hold. Trumbull Sykes, a grandiose English department chairman embroiled in a postmodern academic tussle in Steven Drukman’s “Death of the Author” at the Geffen Playhouse in 2014. Writers and actors took to Twitter today to offer their condolences to Bean’s family and legacy.As someone who knew Orson Bean mainly as a television personality on talk shows and game shows in the 1970s and ’80s, I have to admit I was surprised to discover as late as a few years ago just how good he could be onstage.Ī seasoned veteran who had perfected the art of holding an audience rapt, he stole the show playing J. He led a group of older adults in a plot to extend their lives by entering the mind of actor John Malkovich. Lester in Spike Jonze’s Being John Malkovich. Before Elijah Wood or Martin Freeman, Tolkien fans had Bean as the voice in their head while re-reading the novels. He is also one of the first actors to portray a hobbit, as he voiced both Bilbo and Frodo Baggins in the Rankin/Bass animated TV films The Hobbit and The Return of the King in the late 1970s. He served as a guest host for Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show over 100 times, and from 1993-1998 starred as shopkeeper Loren Bay on CBS’ Dr. He is survived by his wife of 27 years, actress Alley Mills, and his four children.īorn July 22, 1928, Bean was a star of the small and big screen. ![]() ![]() The Los Angeles County coroner’s office confirmed to the Associated Press that Bean’s death is under investigation as a “traffic-related fatality.” Bean was walking in Venice Friday night when he was struck by a vehicle and fell, only to be hit by a second car. The voice of Rankin/Bass’ Bilbo Baggins, Orson Bean, passed away Friday in Los Angeles.
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