Actor-comedian Orson Bean was tragically killed in Los Angeles on Friday when he was struck by two cars car. He was 91. The Los Angeles County Coroner’s office has confirmed his death, adding it’s being investigated as a traffic-related fatality.
Reports were made of a man seen walking in a Venice neighborhood when he clipped by a car and fell. Unfortunately, a second car came along and Orson Bean was struck again. Drivers of both vehicles remained on the scene.
Born Dallas Frederick Burrows in Burlington, Vermont in 1928, Orson Bean has appeared in numberous films, including “Anatomy of a Murder” and ‘Being John Malkovich.‘ He starred in several popular Broadway productions, and received a Tony Award nomination for the 1962 Comden-Green musical “Subways Are for Sleeping.”
He will like be remembered most for his many TV appearances on shows like ‘Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman,’ and the game show ‘To Tell the Truth.’ Orson Bean also appeared on ‘The Tonight Show’ over 200 times.
Married to ‘Wonder Years’ actress Allie Mills for over 27 years, the two were introduced to each other by her mother. She was his third wife and despite their 23 year age difference, the two remained married until his death.
Mills also played alongside her husband in the ‘Dr. Quinn’ series as Marjorie Quinn. She was also a regular on the sitcom Yes, Dear, and played the part of Pamela Douglas on the soap opera, ‘The Bold and the Beautiful’ from 2006 to 2019.
Early in his career, Orson Bean had stopped working on television for a year. He explained in one of his interviews that he had been blacklisted because he had a communist girlfriend at the time. However, did not stop him from working in the theater.
Bean starred on Broadway alongside Jayne Mansfield and Walter Matthau, playing the part of a timid fan magazine writer in George Axelrod’s 1955 Hollywood spoof “Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?” He also starred in the Broadway play “Never Too Late” Maureen O’Sullivan.
This year has already gotten off to a sad start with the passing of beloved figures.
On Friday night, police were called around 7:35 p.m. to the 700 block of Venice Boulevard, between Shell Avenue and Pisani Place, which is located right in front of the theater where both Bean and his wife, Alley Mills were married in 1993. Witnesses told ABC7 that she was present at the scene.
Orson Bean leaves behind a wife, two sons and one daughter from previous marriages.
