OBit

This is weird.  Orson Bean has died.  But not of natural causes.  The 91-year-old comedian was hit by a car in Los Angeles

I've always been a fan of Orson Bean.  I first knew him as a character who showed up on a lot of game shows.  To Tell The Truth, Match Game, Password, The $10,000 Pyramid, you name it, he did it.  He also appeared on a lot of talk shows, and came across as a fairly witty guy.  Eventually, I discovered some of the work that made him a celebrity in the first place.

He started out in stand-up comedy in the 1950s.  I remember a story (I think he told Johnny Carson) about how he became popular doing Victor Borge material.  He left town for a week and when he got back a friend greeted him at the train saying "some new guy stole your Victor Borge routine!"

If you want to hear the sort of (original) stuff he did as a successful comedian, check out (if it's available) his excellent comedy album I Ate The Baloney. Released in the late 60s, it includes stories and songs.

He got attention as an actor for appearing in the Broadway revue John Murray Anderson's Almanac (1953), receiving a Theatre World Award.   He went on to star in Broadway shows such as Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?* (1955) and the musical Subways Are For Sleeping** (1961), for which he got a Tony nomination.

Bean also appeared in many TV shows starting in the 50s (when so much TV was done in New York).  I suppose his best-known appearance in his early years was his work in the title role of the Twilight Zone episode "Mr. Bevis."  Around the same time, he made a notable appearance as an expert witness in the highly-regarded movie Anatomy Of A Murder (1959).

He went on to do numerous guests shots in TV shows and supporting work in movies, along with all his game show and talk show appearances.  It wasn't until the 1990s that he became a regular on a TV series, playing Loren Bray in Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.

You never knew where he'd show up. In the last 20 years, when he was in his 70s and 80s, he kept at it, doing guest appearances on shows such as Two And A Half Men, How I Met Your Mother, Modern Family and Superstore, not to mention 23 episodes of Desperate Housewives.

Probably his greatest late-career performance was in Being John Malkovich (1999).  He plays Dr. Lester, who hires John Cusack to do filing for his business.  We eventually discover Lester has a lot more on his mind.  Bean takes the quirky dialogue of writer Charlie Kaufman and knocks it out of the park.

Orson Bean was never a big star, like the recently deceased Kirk Douglas. But he made his mark.  He was a unique personality, and I don't remember any appearance of his I didn't enjoy.

*The play has little to do with the movie version adapted by Frank Tashlin and starring Tony Randall (though both feature Jayne Mansfield). The original was written and directed by George Axelrod, and is a satire of show biz where the hero sells his soul to the devil who acts like an agent, only taking 10% at a time.

**While there was a lot of talent behind Subways, it got mediocre reviews. But it was the recipient of one of the most famous publicity stunts ever.  Producer David Merrick found seven people who shared the names of the top New York theatre critics. He invited them to see the show then took out an ad with their raves.  No one was fooled for long (if at all) but it was the talk of the town for months.  The show still lost money.