Richard Beymer

George Richard Beymer Jr. (born February 20, 1938) is an American actor, filmmaker and visual artist. After making his feature acting debut in Vittorio De Sica's Stazione Termini, he rose to promience for playing the roles of Peter van Daan in The Diary of Anne Frank (1959) and Tony in the 1961 film adaptation of West Side Story.

Through the early 60s, Beymer continued to portray lead roles in films such as Frank Tashlin's Bachelor Flat (1961), Martin Ritt's Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man (1962), and Franklin J. Schaffner's The Stripper (1963). After shifting his focus towards filmmaking in the mid 60s, Beymer would continue to sporadically act, most notably as Ben Horne on the television series Twin Peaks (1990–1991, 2017).

As a filmmaker in the late 60s, he focused on documentaries focused on the civil rights movement, before working on the experimental narrative feature The Innerview throughout the 1970s. Later documentary works include features focused on subjects such as the funeral of Transcendental Meditation creator Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and Twin Peaks co-creator David Lynch's spiritual journey to India.

Career Child actor Beymer acted on television in Los Angeles for three years in a show called Sandy Dreams, rehearsing after school during the week and recording it on Saturdays. The show ended when he was 13.

Beymer made his feature-film debut in Vittorio De Sica's Stazione Termini (1953). He was under contract to David O. Selznick for a year. Producer William Perlberg later said "It's a thing that periodically happens out here. Somebody comes along and talk starts and agents and studios keep talking and talking. Like an avalanche, the talk gathers speed. Ultimately that 'somebody' turns out to be a big name in Hollywood only."

Beymer later said he "was miserable in West Side Story. I didn't know enough at the time because I lacked certain knowledge in acting...I came out ridiculous. I didn't stand up for what I should have and I didn't know enough. The blame should be on me."

Beymer was reunited with Weld in the Fox comedy Bachelor Flat (1961). At Columbia, he played the son of Rosalind Russell and Jack Hawkins in Five Finger Exercise (1962). Beymer later said he was "terrible" in it.

He was given the role of Nick Adams in Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man (1962) for Fox, with an all-star supporting cast. Producer Jerry Wald says he and director Martin Ritt agreed that Beymer was "the young actor I think stands the best chance of being the next Gary Cooper." During filming, Beymer met Sharon Tate, and he encouraged her to get into acting. The film was a big flop and it has been argued it "killed Beymer as a movie star."

Producer Wald and director Franklin Schaffner cast Beymer in The Stripper (1963) with Joanne Woodward, which was critically acclaimed but not a big hit. Beymer returned to New York.

He assisted Barney Frank in rescuing Freedom Democrat forms in a rental truck that had been confiscated from arrested Freedom volunteers in Canton, Mississippi on Freedom Day (July 16, 1964). During this time, he filmed the award-winning documentary A Regular Bouquet: Mississippi Summer (1964), portraying the efforts of volunteers registering African-Americans to vote. He acted in The Country Girl on stage.

Filmmaker In the 1970s, Beymer turned to experimental filmmaking with The Innerview, which he wrote, produced, directed, and starred. It won the Josef von Sternberg Award at the Mannheim-Heidelberg International Filmfestival in 1974. "I never left the movies," Beymer said. "I just made different kinds of movies."

In the early 2000s, Beymer returned to making documentaries. One titled Whatever Happened to Richard Beymer?, which chronicled his obsession with photography throughout his life, was screened at the 2002 Twin Peaks Festival in Seattle. He continued to focus on directing documentaries: His 2010 film The Passing of a Saint chronicles the funeral rites of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

He starred in, wrote and directed episodes of the television series Insight. He lived for two years in a commune and worked in Switzerland.

Beymer reprised his role as Ben Horne in the third season of Twin Peaks in 2017.

In 2019, Beymer visited the set of Steven Spielberg's remake of West Side Story. In December 2021, Rachel Zegler, the film's star, released two photos on her Instagram page: One of Beymer sitting next to Spielberg; another of Beymer hugging Zegler while screenwriter Tony Kushner looked on. According to Zegler, Beymer said "Te adoro María" to her "over and over again" as they embraced.

Books In 2007 Beymer completed Impostor: Or Whatever Happened to Richard Beymer?, his first book, a self-published novel and a semi-autobiographical account of a young actor's struggle to find himself.

As visual artist Beymer's photographs of Twin Peaks cast and crew were featured in the gallery of behind the scenes photos on the Definitive Gold Box Edition for Twin Peaks, released on October 30, 2007. He is also a painter and sculptor.

As of 2010, Beymer resided in Fairfield, Iowa, where he continued to make films and to write, sculpt, and paint. He practices Transcendental Meditation, to "cool out".

Filmography Film Year Title Role Notes 1951 Fourteen Hours Uncredited 1953 Terminal Station Paul Stevens 1953 So Big Roelf (Age 12–16) 1957 Johnny Tremain Rab Silsbee 1959 The Diary of Anne Frank Peter Van Daan 1960 High Time Bob Bannerman 1961 West Side Story Tony Nominated —Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or ComedyNominated — Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actor 1961 Bachelor Flat Mike Pulaski 1962 Five Finger Exercise Philip Harrington 1962 Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man Nick Adams 1962 The Longest Day Pvt. Dutch Schultz 1963 The Stripper Kenny Baird 1964 A Regular Bouquet: Mississippi Summer Documentary short; director and writer 1969 Scream Free! Dean 1973 The Innerview Actor Also director, writer, producer, editor and cinematographer 1983 Cross Country Evan Bley 1989 Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out! Dr. Newbury Direct-to-video 1992 Blackbelt Eddie Deangelo 1993 Under Investigation Dr. Jerry Parsons 1994 My Girl 2 Peter Webb 1996 The Disappearance of Kevin Johnson Chad Leary 1996 Foxfire Mr. Parks 1998 Playing Patti 2000 Home the Horror Story Bob Parkinson2001India - Shivaratri 2001Documentary short; director, editor and cinematographer 2002 Whatever Happened to Richard Beymer? Documentary; director, editor and cinematographer 2008 Sadie's Waltz Garvus Short film 2010 The Passing of a Saint Documentary; director, editor and cinematographer 2014 It's a Beautiful World Documentary; director, editor and cinematographer 2016 Richard Beymer's Before the Big Bang Documentary; director, editor and cinematographer 2017 I Had Bad Milk in Dehradun Documentary short; director, editor and cinematographer 2017 Behind the Red Curtain Documentary short; director, editor and cinematographer

Television Year Title Role Notes 1954 Cavalcade of America Episode: "Gentle Conqueror" 1956–1957 Make Room for Daddy The Boyfriend / Freddie Baxter 2 episodes 1957 The Gray Ghost Luke Burnette Episode: "An Eye for an Eye" 1957 26 Men Tod Devers Episode: "Dead Man in Tucson" 1957 Zane Grey Theatre Shep Jolland Episode: "The Bitter Land" 1958 Navy Log Ennis Thompson Episode: "The Soapbox Kid" 1958 Whirlybirds John Thompson Episode: "The Brothers" 1958 Sky King Joe Belden Episode: "Man Hunt" 1958 Jane Wyman Presents The Fireside Theatre Mark Episode: "On the Brink" 1958, 1968 Death Valley Days John Owens / Zeb Fallon 2 episodes 1959 Schlitz Playhouse Episode: "On the Brink" 1959 Playhouse 90 LeRoy Cadman Episode: "Dark December" 1965 Kraft Suspense Theatre Werner Schiff Episode: "The East Breach" 1965 The Virginian Mark Shannon / Frank Colter 2 episodes 1966 Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre Ralph Belmonte Episode: "Guilty or Not Guilty" 1966 Dr. Kildare Reverend Jack Elder 3 episodes 1967 The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Harry Williams Episode: "The Survival School Affair" 1975, 1978–1982 Insight Train Conductor / Josh / God 3 episodes as actor; also cinematographer of 14 episodes and editor of 2 episodes 1979 Blessed Be Television short; editor 1981 The Girl on the Edge of Town Television film; cinematographer 1982 To Climb a Mountain Television film; cinematographer 1982 The Juggler of Notre Dame Television film; cinematographer1982LeadfootTelevision film; cinematographer1983Josie Television film; cinematographer, editor, and composer 1984 Paper Dolls David Fenton 13 episodes1985 Safe HarborTelevision film; cinematographer 1985 Generation Allan Breed Television film 1986 Moonlighting Ray Adamson Episode: "All Creatures Great...and Not So Great" 1987, 1991,1993, 1996 Murder, She Wrote Various roles 6 episodes 1987–1988 Buck James Max 2 episodes 1987 Dallas Jeff Larkin Episode: "Bedtime Stories" 1988 The Bronx Zoo Mr. Locke Episode: "The Gospel Truth" 1990–1991 Twin Peaks Benjamin Horne 30 episodes 1992 Danger Island Ben Television film 1993 Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Li Nalas 3 episodes 1994 State of Emergency Dr. Ronald Frames Television film 1996 A Face to Die For Dr. Matthew Sheridan Television film 1996 Flipper Andrew Cantrell Episode: "Sharks" 1996 The X-Files Dr. Jack Franklin Episode: "Sanguinarium" 1997 Elvis Meets Nixon Bob Haldeman Television film 1998 Vengeance Unlimited Douglas Bradford Episode: "Noir" 1999 Profiler Martin Fizer Episode: "Ceremony of Innocence" 2001 Family Law Richard Collins Episode: "Against All Odds" 2017 Twin Peaks Benjamin Horne 6 episodes