John Beal (born James Alexander Bliedung, August 13, 1909 – April 26, 1997) was an American actor.

Early years

Beal was born James Alexander Bliedung in

Joplin, Missouri Joplin is a city in Jasper and Newton counties in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Missouri. The bulk of the city is in Jasper County, while the southern portion is in Newton County. Joplin is the largest city located within both Jas ...

. His father had a department store and Beal went to the

Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania ( ; also known as Wharton Business School, the Wharton School, Penn Wharton, and Wharton) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in ...

"mapped for a commercial career." While at Wharton, Beal (who enrolled under his real name, James Alexander Bliedung) spent time drawing cartoons for the school's humor magazine and singing in productions of the

Mask and Wig The Mask and Wig Club, a private club in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, founded in 1889, is a historic collegiate musical comedy troupe. Created as an alternative to the existing theatrical and dramatic outlets at the University of Pennsylvania, Mas ...

club.

Stage

Soon after graduating from college in 1930, Beal began acting with the

Hedgerow Theatre Hedgerow Theatre is a theatre company based in Rose Valley, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia, founded in 1923. It was "for many years the only true U. S. professional repertory theater." The building is a contributing structure in the Rose Valley H ...

. Beal originally went to New York to study at the Art Students League of New York. A chance to understudy in a play made him change his mind. He went on to appear in ''Russet Mantle'' and ''She Loves Me''. Beal's Broadway credits include ''Three Men on a Horse'' (1993), ''The Seagull'' (1992), ''The Master Builder'' (1992), ''A Little Hotel on the Side'' (1992), ''The Crucible'' (1991), ''The Changing Room'' (1973), ''The Candyapple'' (1970), ''Our Town'' (1969), ''In the Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer'' (1969), ''Billy'' (1969), ''Calculated Risk'' (1962), ''The Teahouse of the August Moon'' (1953), ''Leonard Sillman's New Faces of 1952'' (1952), ''The Voice of the Turtle'' (1943), ''Liberty Jones'' (1941), ''I Know What I Like'' (1939), ''Miss Swan Expects'' (1939), ''Soliloquy'' (1938), ''Russet Mantle'' (1936), ''She Loves Me Not'' (1933), ''Another Language'' (1933), ''Another Language'' (1932), ''Wild Waves'' (1932), and ''No More Frontier'' (1931).

Film

Anne Shirley and John Beal in M'Liss, 1936

Beal began acting in films with '' Another Language'' (1933), in which he re-created his stage role. He appeared opposite Katharine Hepburn (in the 1934

RKO RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orpheu ...

film '' The Little Minister''), among others; one of his notable screen appearances was as

Marius Pontmercy Marius Pontmercy () is a fictional character, one of the protagonists of Victor Hugo’s 1862 novel ''Les Misérables''. He is a young student, and the suitor of Cosette. Believing Cosette lost to him, and determined to die, he joins the revoluti ...

in ''

Les Misérables ''Les Misérables'' ( , ) is a French historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published in 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. In the English-speaking world, the novel is usually referred to by its origin ...

'' (1935). He continued appearing in films during the war years while serving in Special Services and the

First Motion Picture Unit The 18th AAF Base Unit (Motion Picture Unit), originally known as the First Motion Picture Unit, Army Air Forces, was the primary film production unit of the U.S. Army Air Forces (AAF) during World War II, and was the first military unit mad ...

as actor and director of Army Air Forces camp shows and training films. Beal had starring roles in the film dramas ''

Alimony Alimony, also called aliment (Scotland), maintenance (England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Wales, Canada, New Zealand), spousal support (U.S., Canada) and spouse maintenance (Australia), is a legal obligation on a person to provide financial sup ...

'' (1949) and ''

My Six Convicts ''My Six Convicts'' is a 1952 American film noir crime drama directed by Hugo Fregonese. The screenplay was adapted by Michael Blankfort from the autobiographical book ''My Six Convicts: A Psychologist's Three Years in Fort Leavenworth'', written ...

'' (1952).

Radio and television

During the summer of 1948, Beal acted in ''The Amazing Mr. Tutt'' on CBS radio. Beal was host of ''Freedom Rings'', a game show on CBS-TV in 1953. In the 1950s, Beal also began appearing in various television shows, including the title role of mining engineer

Philip Deidesheimer Philip Deidesheimer was a mining engineer in the Western United States. Deidesheimer was born in 1832, in Darmstadt, Hesse before German unification. He attended the prestigious Freiberg University of Mining (''Technische Universität Bergakademi ...

in a 1959 episode of '' Bonanza'', "The Deidesheimer Story". Beal starred as Dr. Lewis on the ABC serial ''Road to Reality'' in 1960-1961. He portrayed Dr. Henden on the primetime medical drama '' The Nurses'' in the early 1960s and appeared on an afternoon version of the program in the latter half of the 1960s. He was hired to play the role of Jim Matthews in the television soap opera '' Another World'' when the show went on the air in 1964, but was fired by creator and headwriter

Irna Phillips Irna Phillips (July 1, 1901 – December 23, 1973) was an American scriptwriter, screenwriter, casting agent and actress. She is best remembered for pioneering a format of the daytime soap opera in the United States geared specifically toward wo ...

after only one episode. He appeared in ''

The Waltons ''The Waltons'' is an American historical drama television series about a family in rural Virginia during the Great Depression and World War II. It was created by Earl Hamner Jr., based on his 1961 book '' Spencer's Mountain'' and the 1963 fil ...

'', season 3, episode 13, "The Visitor", first aired in December, 1974. His character was a former neighbor, Mason Beardsley, an elderly man who returned to Waltons Mountain to live with his wife who he was expecting in a few days. The Walton family were excited for him and helped to fix up his home, only to learn that his wife had died a year earlier and, unable to accept this fact, he continued to look for her. In 1976, Beal portrayed Charles Adams II in the PBS dramatic series ''

The Adams Chronicles ''The Adams Chronicles'' is a thirteen-episode miniseries by PBS that aired in 1976 to commemorate the American Bicentennial. Synopsis The series chronicles the story of the Adams political family over a 150-year span, including John Adams (dra ...

''. He continued to work in films and television, notably as Judge Vail in the supernatural soap opera ''

Dark Shadows ''Dark Shadows'' is an American gothic soap opera that aired weekdays on the ABC television network, from June 27, 1966, to April 2, 1971. The show depicted the lives, loves, trials, and tribulations of the wealthy Collins family of Collinspo ...

'' (for 9 episodes), and also the theater up until the 1980s. Beal died at age 87 in

Santa Cruz, California Santa Cruz ( Spanish for "Holy Cross") is the county seat and largest city of Santa Cruz County, in Northern California. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 62,956. Situated on the northern edge of Monterey Bay, Santa Cruz is a po ...

, two years after suffering a stroke.

Personal life

Beal was married to actress

Helen Craig Helen Craig (born 30 August 1934) is an English children's book illustrator and writer. She is best known for creating the Angelina Ballerina series of children's books with writer Katharine Holabird. Craig was born in London, evacuated duri ...

for 52 years until her death in 1986. They had two daughters, Theodora Emily and Tandy Johanna.

Filmography

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Beal, John 1909 births 1997 deaths 20th-century American male actors American male film actors American male soap opera actors American male television actors American male stage actors American male radio actors Male actors from Missouri People from Joplin, Missouri