Early life

Bean was born Dallas Frederick Burrows in Burlington, Vermont, the son of Marian Ainsworth (née Pollard) and George Frederick Burrows. His father was a founding member of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), a fund-raiser for the Scottsboro Boys' defense, and a 20-year member of the campus police of Harvard College. Orson graduated from the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School. He is a first cousin twice removed of Calvin Coolidge, who was President of the United States at the time of Bean's birth. Orson Bean is a founding member of The Sons of the Desert, the international Laurel and Hardy Society. Bean served for two years in the United States Army stationed in Japan (1946-1947).

Acting career

In 1952, Bean made a guest appearance on NBC Radio's weekly hot-jazz series The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street. His vocal mannerisms were ideal for the mock-serious tone of the show, and he became the show's master of ceremonies ("Dr. Orson Bean") for its final season. Bean was a frequent guest on The Tonight Show (with both Jack Paar and Johnny Carson), and appeared on game shows originating from New York. He was a regular panelist on To Tell the Truth in versions from the late 1950s through 1991. During this time, his father appeared as a subject of the panel and he had to disqualify himself from participating. Apparently no one knew his real name was Burrows. He appeared on Super Password and Match Game, among other game shows. He hosted a pilot for a revamped version of Concentration in 1985 which was picked up later on in 1987 as Classic Concentration with Alex Trebek.

He played the title character in the 1960 Twilight Zone episode "Mr. Bevis". In 1961, for the CBS anthology series The DuPont Show with June Allyson, he starred as John Monroe in "The Secret Life of James Thurber", based on the works of the American humorist James Thurber.

On Broadway, he was the star of the original cast of Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1955), and was featured in Subways Are For Sleeping (1961), for which he received a Tony Award nomination as Best Featured Actor in a Musical, as well as Never Too Late (1962). He also starred in Illya Darling, the 1967 musical adaptation of the film Never on Sunday. In 1964 he produced the Obie Award winning Home Movies and appeared on Broadway in I Was Dancing.

He was a regular on both Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman and its spin-off, Fernwood 2Nite, and also played the shrewd businessman and storekeeper Loren Bray on the television series Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman throughout its six-year run on CBS in the 1990s. He played John Goodman's homophobic father on the sitcom Normal, Ohio. He played the main characters Bilbo and Frodo Baggins in the 1977 and 1980 Rankin/Bass animated adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, and The Return of the King. He also played Dr. Lester in Spike Jonze's 1999 film, Being John Malkovich. Bean appeared in the last two episodes of Season 7 of 2003 in 7th Heaven as a patient. In 2005, Bean appeared in the sitcom Two and a Half Men, in an episode entitled "Does This Smell Funny to You?", playing a former playboy whose conquests included actresses Tuesday Weld and Anne Francis. He appeared in the 2007 How I Met Your Mother episode "Slapsgiving" as Robin Scherbatsky's 41-year-old boyfriend, Bob. In 2009, he was cast in the recurring role of Roy Bender, a steak salesman, who is Karen McCluskey's love interest on the ABC series Desperate Housewives. And in 2016, at age 87, Bean appeared in the American TV sitcom Modern Family, in an episode entitled "Playdates".

Personal life

Bean wrote an autobiographical account about his life-changing experience with the orgone therapy developed by Austrian born Wilhelm Reich: Me and the Orgone - The True Story of One Man's Sexual Awakening (1971).

He has been married three times.

His first wife was actress Jacqueline de Sibour (stage name: Rain Winslow), whom he married in 1956 and divorced in 1962. She was the daughter of Vicomte Jacques J. de Sibour, a French nobleman and pilot, and his wife, Violette B. Selfridge (later Mrs. Frederick T. Bedford), daughter of British department-store magnate Harry Gordon Selfridge. Jacqueline and Bean had one child, Michele.

His second wife was fashion designer Carolyn Maxwell. They married in 1965 and divorced in 1981. They had three children: Max, Susannah, and Ezekiel. Susannah was married to conservative commentator Andrew Breitbart until his death; they had four children.

His third wife is actress Alley Mills, 23 years his junior; they married in 1993 and live in Los Angeles.

Bean left the United States and lived in Australia in the 1960s.

Bean was a frequent guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson in the 1970s. Since 2008, Bean has been a regular guest on the Dennis Miller radio show, stating that he is a Christian of orthodox beliefs and very thankful for the career success that he has had.

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1952	Broadway Television Theatre	Erwin Trowbridge	Episodes: Three Men on a Horse, Nothing but the Truth
1952	Westinghouse Studio One	Harvey B. Hines	Episode: The Square Peg
1954	The Blue Angel	Host
1954	Robert Montgomery Presents	unknown	Episode: It Happened in Paris
1954	Westinghouse Studio One	Joey	Episode: Joey
1955	The Best of Broadway	Mortimer Brewster	Episode: Arsenic and Old Lace
1955	The Elgin Hour	Arthur	Episode: San Francisco Fracas
1955	How to Be Very, Very Popular	Toby Marshall
1956	Showdown at Ulcer Gulch	Llewelyn Throckmorton, III
1956	Omnibus (U.S. TV series)		Episode: The Best Year in the Whole History of the World
1956	Westinghouse Studio One	Charlie Digger	Episode: A Christmas Surprise
1957	Kraft Television Theatre		Episode: A Travel from Brussels
1957	Playhouse 90	Jack Chesney	Episode: Charley's Aunt
1958	The Phil Silvers Show		Episode: Bilko's Insurance Company
1958	The Millionaire	Newman Johnson	Episode: The Newman Johnson Story
1959	Anatomy of a Murder	Dr. Matthew Smith
1959	Miracle on 34th Street	Dr. William Sawyer
1960	The Twilight Zone	James B.W. Bevis	Episode: Mr. Bevis
1960	Play of the Week (TV series)		Episodes 1960-1961: Two by Saroyan: 'Once Around the Block' and 'My Heart's in the Highlands', New York Scrapbook
1961	The DuPont Show with June Allyson	John Monroe	Episode: The Secret Life of James Turber
1962	Naked City (TV series)	Arnold Platt	Episode: To Walk Like a Lion
1963	The United States Steel Hour	Lester, Eddie West, Dennis Kavanaugh	Episodes 1954-1963: Good for You, The Fifth Wheel, Don't Shake the Family Tree
1964	Vacation Playhouse		Episode: The Bean Show
1966	The Star Wagon	Stephen Minch
1970	A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court	Hank/Sir Boss
1970	Twinky	Hal
1970	Love, American Style		Episode: Love and the Co-ed Dorm/Love and the Optimist/Love and the Teacher
1970	NET Playhouse	Multiple Roles	Episode: Helen Hayes Remembers
1974	Wide World Mystery	Bob	Episode: The Spy Who Returned from the Dead
1975	Ellery Queen	Warren Wright	Episode: The Adventure of the Chinese Dog
1977	Forever Fernwood	Reverend Brim
1977	The Hobbit	Bilbo Baggins
1978	Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman	Reverend Brim	Unknown episodes 1977-1978
1978	The Love Boat	Artie D' Angelo	Episode: Heads or Tails/Little People, The/Mona of the Movies
1980	The Return of the King	Frodo Baggins/Bilbo Baggins
1982	Forty Deuce	Mr. Roper
1982	One Life to Live	Harrison Logan	Unknown episodes
1984	Garfield in the Rough	Billy Rabbit
1984	The Fall Guy	Jason Klemer	Episode: October the 31st
1986	Smart Alec	Arthur Fitzgerald
1987	The Facts of Life	Oliver Thompson	Episodes 1986-1987: Fast Food, Cupid's Revenge, Ex Marks the Spot
1987	Innerspace	Lydia's Editor
1989	Murder, She Wrote	Ebeneezer McEnery	Episodes 1986-1989: Keep the Home Fries Burning, Town Father
1990	Monsters	Dr. Hubbard	Episode: The Offering
1990	Instant Karma	Dr. Berlin
1990	Tiny Toon Adventures	Gepetto	Episode: Fairy Tales for the 90's
1991	Chance of a Lifetime	Fred
1992	Final Judgement	Monsignor Corelli
1992	Just My Imagination	Jeremy Stitcher
1997	California	Loren Bray
1997	One of Those Nights	Neighbor
1998	Diagnosis: Murder	Lewis Sweeney	Episode: Obsession part 1
1998	Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman	Loren Bray	146 episodes, 1993-1998
1999	Thanks	Burnaby Fitzhugh	Episode: Spring
1999	Being John Malkovich	Dr. Lester
1999	Unbowed	Purdy
2000	Manhattan, AZ	Lew Goldberg	Episodes: The Voyage Home, Atticus Doesn't Live Here Anymore
2000	Ally McBeal	Marty	Episode: In Search of Pygmies
2000	The King of Queens	Carl Tepper	Episode: Surprise Artie
2000	Family Law	Archbishop Phillips	Episode: Possession Is Nine Tenths of the Law
2000	Will & Grace	Professor Joseph Dudley	Episode: There But for the Grace of Grace
2000	Normal, Ohio	William 'Bill' Gamble, Sr.	7 episodes, 2000
2001	The Gristle	Mr. Bowen
2001	Burning Down the House	Sy
2002	Becker	Mr. Bennet	Episode: Piece Talks
2002	Frank McKlusky, C.I.	Mr Gafty
2003	7th Heaven	Patient	Episodes: Life and Death, part 1 and 2
2003	Knee High P.I.	Macintyre
2004	Myron's Movie	Stanley
2004	Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of 'Charlie's Angels'	John Forsythe
2004	Soccer Dog: European Cup	Mayor Milton Gallagher
2004	Cacophony	Ferruccio
2004	Cold Case	Harland Sealey	Episode: Red Glare
2005	Yesterday's Dreams	Tony Vicedomini
2005	Two and a Half Men	Norman	Episode: Does This Smell Funny to You?
2006	Alien Autopsy	Homeless Man
2006	Commander in Chief	Bill Harrison	Episode: The Price You Pay
2006	The Lather Effect	Jonathan 'God Damn' Iverson
2006	The Novice	Father McIlhenny
2007	Mattie Fresno and the Holoflux Universe	Raff Buddemeyer
2007	The Closer	Donald Baxter	Episode: The Round File
2007	The Minor Accomplishments of Jackie Woodman	Chick	Episode: Good Times and Great Oldies
2007	Women's Murder Club	Harold Grant	Episode: Grannies, Guns and Love Mints
2007	How I Met Your Mother	Bob	Episode: Slapsgiving
2009	The Hole	Pizza Delivery Man	Cameo: not listed in cast
2009	Oranges	Dennis
2009	Safe Harbor	Judge
2009 - 2012	Desperate Housewives	Roy Bender	Recurring
2016	Modern Family	Marty

Books

• Me and the Orgone (1972) ISBN 0-9679670-1-5
• Too Much Is Not Enough (1988) ISBN 0-8184-0465-5
• 25 Ways to Cook a Mouse for the Gourmet Cat (1994) ISBN 1-55972-199-5
• M@il for Mikey (2007)

Recordings

• At the Hungry i (1959 Fantasy UFAN 7009), comedy
• I Ate the Baloney (1969 Columbia CS 9743), comedy

[ Source: Wikipedia ]