John Beal (Actor)

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(08-13-1909 - 04-26-1997) Age 88

John Beal was an American character actor who appeared in over 200 films and television shows during his career, which spanned several decades. He was born on March 25, 1910, in Joplin, Missouri, and began his acting career on the stage before transitioning to film in the 1930s.

John Beal began his acting career in the 1934 RKO film The Little Minister with Katharine Hepburn. He worked USAAF camp shows and training films during WWII.

Beal was a versatile actor who played a wide range of characters, from heroic leads to villainous supporting roles. He appeared in a number of high-profile films, including "King Kong" (1933), "The Kid from Texas" (1939), "The Sea Wolf" (1941), and "The Magnificent Seven" (1960). He also had a long and successful career in television, appearing in popular shows such as "Perry Mason," "The Twilight Zone," and "The Wild Wild West."

Throughout his career, Beal was known for his distinctive voice and his ability to bring depth and nuance to even the smallest of roles. He continued to work in films and television until his death on November 20, 1998, in Los Angeles, California.

He appeared in the following 33 episodes of Radio Mystery Theater
Date Episode Title Plot
01/27/1974 0022 Time and Again A clockmaker comes across a mysterious clock that can give him an additional hour every day. All it needs is a little blood in return.
10/14/1974 0160 A Scaffold for Two After his plane crashes in a secluded island, a lawyer learns that the locals employ their own judicial code. He is forced to take part in their farce of a system that ignores legal conventions.
12/29/1975 0404 The Memory Killers In order for the company to survive, an advertising executive works hard to land a major account. However, he is haunted by ghosts from the past who revealed a disturbing tale-- that the head of their corporation is the same Nazi prison guard that tortured them to death.
04/04/1977 0628 So Shall Ye Reap In the 1850’s, a small town in New Mexico becomes afflicted with a strange curse that affects only women and children. In a desperate bid to find a cure, the town’s mayor discovers an unspeakable horror from his past.
04/11/1977 0632 The Meteorite When a meteorite crashes into a farm field, it is immediately claimed by a local college professor. However, upon closer examination it becomes apparent that there is more to the meteor than what it seems. The professor soon learns that the rock is actually an alien spacecraft, complete with alien pilot inside it!
06/01/1978 0843 The Silent Woman A woman goes into a silence for 27 years after being forced into a marriage against her wishes.
06/06/1978 0846 Miracle in Sharon City An industrious mayor becomes a hero when he manages to get a leading chemical company to set up a manufacturing unit in his small town. But an encounter with an ex-chemist at the company reveals facts about the product(s) that leaves him having serious doubts.
06/12/1978 0849 Alias Mr. Aladdin A scheming woman and her incapable paramour repeatedly attempt to find out her deceased husband's money stash as his best friend tries to impede them.
07/11/1978 0862 Guardian Angel A rising entrepreneur falls in love with a young woman who says she has been reborn and that she can communicate with animals. When she is sent off to an asylum, he tries to throw away everything else so he can live with her.
08/18/1978 0881 Our Own Jailer A malcontent businessman ends up in the magical city of Xanadu where he is permitted to follow his passions. But did he kill someone to reach there? A young attorney investigates.
09/13/1978 0892 High Caqueta The mysterious disappearance of their only girl in a regular mountain climbing trip forces a couple to attempt a search and rescue mission in the Andes Mountains. But their guide seems to know a secret about the mountain he is not telling them know.
11/10/1978 0916 A Better Mousetrap In order to secure an air-tight alibi, a man stages his own kidnapping to escape being investigated for the murder of his wealthy wife.
11/27/1978 0923 Alien Presences Witnessing the crash of an unidentified flying object, an elderly couple head to the location and find a bay amidst the wreckage. As the child grows older, he longs to return to his own planet and people.
12/20/1978 0933 It Has to Be True When his gun and clothes are found in the apartment of the deceased, a traveling salesman is imprisoned for the death of a woman he has never met. He pleads innocence but the evidence against him is overwhelming.
01/17/1979 0946 The Wandering Wind After moving into their new home, a husband makes an attempt to remedy the dilapidated state of their abode. However, his shy and timid wife adamantly refuses, preferring to leave their ramshackle house as it is. As time passes, he desires to be free of his timorous ways and become more sociable while his wife stagnates in isolation.
03/21/1979 0964 Masks When a retired Hollywood producer is relieved of a precious cigarette case during a train ride, his quest to reclaim the stolen item plunges him into danger.
04/04/1979 0968 The Believers When a nosy neighbor becomes curious about the strange incidents that go on at the house next door, she sends her son over to investigate. He soon discovers a parallel universe within its walls and solves the mystery.
05/28/1979 0983 The Outsider After missing his train stop, a man finds himself in a cursed town stuck in 1949; and the townsfolk see him as the messiah who will set them free.
06/25/1979 0991 Mission From Zython When an unidentified flying object makes a sudden landing in a field nearby a military base; a father and son take several photos. Before long, they are visited by an alien being commanding that they release the pictures into his custody.
07/02/1979 0993 The Rivalry The murder of a lounge singer with international connections becomes the main case of a Washington D.C. detective. However, as the case progresses, it seems that a former felon with a penchant for detective work is constantly one step ahead of him.
07/18/1979 0998 The Case of the Forced Divorce In a battle for the custody of their young son, a British woman enlists the aid of a gentleman con man and an American police investigator to outwit the husband who is badgering her for a divorce.
10/10/1979 1020 At the End of the Passage After finally succumbing to the humidity in India, a British military officer begins to abuse his servants. He resorts to substance abuse to alleviate his madness.
11/26/1979 1033 Strange New Tomorrow After the second Hundred Years War, a scientist and his wife are ordered by a covert agency to create a humanoid robot that can survive a land ravaged by nuclear fallout.
01/23/1980 1053 The Forty-Four The local sheriff has been in love with a wealthy landowner for the longest time. When she confesses to the murder of her cousin over a dispute on the ownership of a certain property, ballistics reports on the weapon come back negative and he must find the true perpetrator of the crime in order to save her.
02/11/1980 1058 Talk to Me In order to ease his loneliness, an elderly man makes an anonymous tip to a crime hot line just to have someone to talk to. When his actions end up setting an innocent youngster to take the fall for a murder, he must find a way to set him free.
06/23/1980 1096 Life Blood In this tale of revenge and deception, an embittered scientist creates a life-like robot whose sole purpose is to destroy the life of his old rival.
09/03/1980 1115 Leave Well Enough Alone A marital counseling session with a couple he is acquainted with gives birth to the greatest story ever written by talented French novelist, Guy de Maupassant.
09/29/1980 1122 The Ruby Lamp When a college professor creates a device capable of capturing a person's thoughts on film, he uses it to help a friend whose wife suffers from severe melancholia over the death of her children. The woman desires to know what became of her stillborn twins and the experiment all too capably supplies her with the answer.
01/29/1981 1153 The Vanishing Herd Sherlock Holmes takes on the case of a wealthy aristocrat whose son mysteriously disappeared from a prestigious boarding school. In order to solve the case, he must quickly search for clues beneath the tracks of moving cattle before they are stomped cleanly away.
02/27/1981 1165 Love Me, Don't Leave Me Still head-over-heels in love even after forty-five years of marriage, an old couple vow to stay together forever. Their love is tested when his wife's terrible secret threatens to surface.
04/08/1981 1182 The Doll The death of their beloved sister cuts deep into the psyche of her brothers and causes the twins to break their psychic connection.
07/10/1981 1219 A Man of Honor On the verge of finally attaining his life-long dream, a college professor is struck by an unusual malady and melancholia before receiving his book award. He must set out to discover the secrets he has hidden in his subconscious.
11/16/1981 1260 Death Will Not Silence Me A recounting of the tragic life of former First Lady, Mary Todd Lincoln as she struggled with the loss of her husband and two young sons; as well as the devils that plagued her.

2 Responses to Beal John

John Beal (August 13, 1909 – April 26, 1997) was an American actor. Beal began acting in the 1930s, opposite Katharine Hepburn among others; one of his notable screen appearances was as Marius Pontmercy in Les Misérables (1935). He continued appearing in films during the war years while serving in Special Services and the First Motion Picture Unit as actor and director of Army Air Forces camp shows and training films. Beal had starring roles in the film dramas Alimony (1949) and My Six Convicts (1952). In the 1950s, Beal also began appearing in various television shows, including the title role of mining engineer Philip Deidesheimer in a 1959 episode of Bonanza. 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. He appeared in The Waltons, 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. He continued to work in films and television, notably as Judge Vail in the supernatural soap opera Dark Shadows (for 9 episodes), and also the theater up until the 1980s. Beal died at age 87 in Santa Cruz, California, two years after suffering a stroke.

Adam

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John Beal had an illustrious 60+ year career, appearing on radio, in over 2 dozen Broadway productions and in over 100 films and television programs. His radio credits include The Cavalcade Of America, Lux Radio Theater, Molle Mystery Theater, The Whistler, Box 13 and Suspense. His film credits include Madame X, Danger Patrol, The Cat And The Canary, One Thrilling Night, Edge Of Darkness, The Vampire, The Sound And The Fury, Ten Who Dared, Amityville 3-D and The Firm His television credits include Bonanza, One Step Beyond, Kojak, The Waltons, The Legend Of Lizzie Borden, Lincoln miniseries, Barnaby Jones, the daytime soap opera Another World and his reoccurring role on the gothic classic, Dark Shadows.

Charlie

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