Richard Beymer
Richard Beymer and Joanne Woodward in The Stripper (1963)
Born	George Richard Beymer, Jr. (1938-02-20) February 20, 1938 (age 86) Avoca, Iowa, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Actor, painter, sculptor, novelist
Years active	1949–present
Height	6 ft 2 in (188 cm)

George Richard Beymer, Jr.^[1] (born February 20, 1938) is an American actor, filmmaker and artist who is best known for playing the roles of Tony in the film version of West Side Story (1961), Peter in The Diary of Anne Frank (1959) and Ben Horne on the television series Twin Peaks (1990–1991, 2017).

Beymer was born in Avoca, Iowa, to George Richard Beymer, a printer, and his wife, Eunice (née Goss).^[1] He and his family moved in 1940 to Los Angeles, California.

In 1949 Beymer began acting in television in the TV series Sandy Dreams.^[2] He had a bit part in Fourteen Hours (1951).

Beymer made his feature-film debut in Vittorio De Sica's Stazione Termini, released in 1953.^[3]

He played in So Big (1953), Cavalcade of America (1954) and Johnny Tremain (1957). He guest starred in 26 Men, Zane Grey Theater, Make Room for Daddy, The Gray Ghost, Navy Log, Whirlybirds, Sky King, Jane Wyman Presents The Fireside Theatre, and Schlitz Playhouse.

He achieved success in The Diary of Anne Frank (1959) playing Peter Van Daan.

After appearing in Playhouse 90 he had a support role in High Time (1960), a comedy with Bing Crosby and Tuesday Weld at 20th Century Fox.

Beymer was cast in the lead role of Tony in West Side Story (1961), a huge hit. He shared a 1962 Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actor with Bobby Darin and Warren Beatty.

Beymer was reunited with Weld in the Fox comedy Bachelor Flat (1961). At Columbia he supported Rosalind Russell in Five Finger Exercise (1962).

Beymer was given the role of Nick Adams in Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man (1962) for Fox, which was a big flop despite an all-star supporting cast. He had a significant role in the film The Longest Day (1962), which was a large success.^[3]

Producer Jerry Walkd and director Franklin Schaffner cast him in The Stripper (1963) with Joannne Woodward.

Beymer enrolled in New York's Actors Studio in 1963,^[3][4] but in 1964 became involved in Freedom Summer in Mississippi. ^[5]

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).^[6] During this time, he filmed the award-winning documentary A Regular Bouquet: Mississippi Summer, documenting the efforts of volunteers registering African-Americans to vote.^[7]

Beymer guest starred in episodes of Kraft Suspense Theatre, The Virginian, Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre, Dr. Kildare, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., and Death Valley Days. Beymer returned to features with Scream Free! (1969) co starring his West Side Story co star Russ Tamblyn.

Beymer turned to filmmaking with The Innerview (1973), which he wrote, produced and directed as well as starred.

He starred in, wrote and directed episodes of Insight.

Beymer returned to acting with Cross Country (1983). He had roles in Paper Dolls (1984), Generation (1985), Moonlighting, Dallas, The Bronx Zo, Buck James, and Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out!.

Beymer was widely seen in Twin Peaks (1990-91) playing Ben Horne. He followed it in Blackbelt (1992), and The Presence. He made three appearances on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as Li Nalas in the episodes "The Homecoming", "The Circle", and "The Siege".

Beymer could also be seen in Under Investigation (1993), My Girl 2 (1994), State of Emergency (1994), The Disappearance of Kevin Johnson (1996), several episodes of '[[[Murder, She Wrote]], A Face to Die For (1996), The Little Death (1996), Foxfire, and Elvis Meets Nixon and Home the Horror Story. He was in episodes of Flipper, The X-Files, Vengeance Unlimited, Profiler, and Family Law.

He was in Sadie's Waltz (2008) then focused on directing documentaries: The Passing of a Saint (2010), It's a Beautiful World (2014), Richard Beymer's Before... the Big Bang (2016), I Had Bad Milk in Dehradun (2017), and Behind the Red Curtain (2017).

Beymer reprised his role as Ben Horne in the third season of Twin Peaks in 2017.^[8]

The avant-garde film The Innerview, which he directed, produced, wrote the screenplay for and edited, won the Josef von Sternberg Award at the Mannheim-Heidelberg International Filmfestival in 1974. His 2010 film, The Passing of a Saint, chronicles the funeral rites of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.^[9] In April 2014 his film of a trip to India with David Lynch, It’s a Beautiful World, was released.^[10]

In 2007 Beymer completed his first book, a self-published novel, Impostor: Or Whatever Happened to Richard Beymer?, a semi-autobiographical account of a young actor's struggle to find himself.^[11]

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.^[9]

As of 2010, Beymer resided in Fairfield, Iowa, where he continued to make films and to write, sculpt, and paint.^[9] He practices Transcendental Meditation, to "cool out".^[10]

• Dye, David. Child and Youth Actors: Filmography of Their Entire Careers, 1914-1985. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 1988, p. 18.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Richard Beymer.

• Richard Beymer at AllMovie
• Richard Beymer's Twin Peaks Photos
• Richard Beymer at IMDb
• Richard Beymer at the University of Wisconsin's Actors Studio audio collection

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