Orson Bean

Diagnoses

Passions

Vocation

Lifestyle

Notable

Family

American TV and stage actor, producer and author. He began his career on the road as a magician and comic, eventually unpacking his traveling bag in New York, where he spent nearly 20 years on and off-Broadway. His credits include such plays as "Never Too Late," "Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?" and "Subways are for Sleeping," which earned him a 1962 Tony as Best Supporting Actor. He did comedy on various TV shows as well as acting in drama, a familiar face in many guises. Life was not always smooth. When he was a boy, his mom committed suicide the day after he refused to go visit her. He was blacklisted in the '50s and his TV career dried up overnight. When the infamous Weather Underground explosion happened in his block in Greenwich Village in March 1970, he decided to relocate. He moved his family to Australia but was driven out by an encounter with a Satanic cult. When his wife left him, he went into a downward spiral of booze and drugs. He had reached the low point of being one payment short of homelessness in 1983 when he had his insight of how much joy is possible in life. The following day his agent called with a commercial job. Since then, he has kept joy as his companion and work has richly rewarded him. He said he had never known happiness until he "learned to surrender, to give up the crazy pursuit for sensual gratification and fame." Bean was married to actress Jacquelin de Sibour, 1956, and to fashion designer Carolyn Maxwell, 1965 to 1979; four children. His third marriage was to actress Alley Mills on 4/18/1993. They live a mile from the Venice theater, conveniently with all the time they spend there. He has performed with the company since 1992, appearing in such acclaimed productions as "Awake and Sing! 1994, and with Mills, in "The Playboy of the Western World," 1996. They are also active with fund raising and doing the grunt work necessary in a small theater company. Enthusiastic and cheerful, appreciative of the adventure of life, Bean is ready with a bon mot or an anecdote. He refers to his role as Loren Bray, the storekeeper on the TV series "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman," as his "day-job." Over the years he has become a mainstay of Los Angeles' little theaters, performing on stages both historic and obscure. He is the author of an autobiography, "Too Much is not Enough." In 2009, he was cast in the recurring role of Roy Bender, a steak salesman, on the ABC series "Desperate Housewives". Link to Wikipedia biography