Julian Beck
Julian Beck | |
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| Born | May 31, 1925 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | September 14, 1985 (aged 60) New York City, U.S. |
| Resting place | Cedar Park Cemetery, New Jersey |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1943–1985 |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
Julian Beck (May 31, 1925 – September 14, 1985) was an American actor, stage director, poet, and painter. He is best known for co-founding and directing The Living Theatre, as well as his role as Reverend Henry Kane, the malevolent preacher in the 1986 movie Poltergeist II: The Other Side. The Living Theatre and its founders were the subject of the 1983 documentary Signals Through The Flames.
Early life
Beck was born on May 31, 1925, in the Washington Heights, Manhattan, to Mabel Lucille (née Blum), a teacher, and Irving Beck, a businessman. He briefly attended Yale University, but dropped out to pursue writing and art. He was an abstract expressionist painter in the 1940s, but his career turned upon meeting his future wife. In 1943, he met Judith Malina and quickly came to share her passion for theatre; they founded The Living Theatre in 1947.[1]
Career
Beck co-directed the Living Theatre until his death. The group's primary influence was Antonin Artaud, who espoused the Theatre of Cruelty, which was supposed to shock the audience out of complacency. This took different forms. In one example, from Jack Gelber's The Connection, a drama about drug addiction, actors playing junkies wandered the audience demanding money for a fix. The Living Theatre moved out of New York in 1964, after the Internal Revenue Service shut it down when Beck failed to pay $23,000 in back taxes. After a sensational trial in which Beck and Malina represented themselves, they were found guilty by a jury.[2][3]
Beck's philosophy of theatre carried over into his life. He once said, "We insisted on experimentation that was an image for a changing society. If one can experiment in theatre, one can experiment in life." He was indicted a dozen times on three continents for charges such as disorderly conduct, indecent exposure, possession of narcotics, and failing to participate in a civil defense drill.[4]
Besides his theatre work, Beck published several volumes of poetry reflecting his anarchist beliefs, two non-fiction books: The Life of the Theatre and Theandric and had several film appearances, with small roles in Oedipus Rex (1967), Love and Anger (1969), The Cotton Club (1984), 9½ Weeks (1986), and his role as the main antagonist in Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986). Beck also appeared in an episode of Miami Vice that was aired 13 days after his death.
Personal life
Beck and Malina were life partners in an open marriage, and Beck had a long-term relationship with Ilion Troya, a male actor in the company. Malina and Beck shared a lover in Lester Schwartz, a bisexual shipyard worker who was the third husband of Andy Warhol acolyte Dorothy Podber.[5] Beck and Malina had "two offstage children", Garrick and Isha.
Death
Beck was diagnosed with stomach cancer in late 1983, and died two years later on September 14, 1985, at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, aged 60.[4] He was survived by his wife, their two children, Garrick and Isha, and a brother. He was interred at Cedar Park Cemetery, in Emerson, New Jersey.
In 2004, 19 years after his death, Beck was posthumously inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame. Judith Malina was also inducted to the Hall of Fame that same year.[6]
Filmography
- Narcissus (1958) - Narration (voice)
- The Queen of Sheba Meets the Atom Man (1963)
- Oedipus Rex (1967) - Tiresia
- Après la Passion selon Sade (1968)
- Candy (1968)
- Love and Anger (1969) - Dying Man (segment "Agonia")
- The Cotton Club (1984) - Sol Weinstein
- Miami Vice (1985) - J.B. Johnston ("Prodigal Son" episode)
- 9½ Weeks (1986) - Dinner Guest
- Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986) - Rev. Henry Kane (final film role)
References
- ^ Gussow, Mel (January 15, 1984). "The Living Theater Returns To Its Birthplace". The New York Times. No. Vol.133, No.45924. p. H6.
{{cite news}}:|issue=has extra text (help) - ^ Johnston, Richard (May 26, 1964). "Jury Finds Becks Guilty in Tax Case; Living Theater Couple Face Fines and Jail Terms". The New York Times. No. Vol.113, No.38839. p. L45.
{{cite news}}:|issue=has extra text (help) - ^ Weber, Bruce (April 10, 2015). "Judith Malina, Founder of the Living Theater, Dies at 88". The New York Times.
- ^ a b Freedman, Samuel (September 17, 1985). "Julian Beck, 60, is Dead; Founded Living Theater". The New York Times. No. Vol.134, No.46535.
{{cite news}}:|issue=has extra text (help) - ^ Obituary of Dorothy Podber, The Daily Telegraph, February 26, 2008
- ^ "Theater honors put women in the spotlight". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. January 28, 2004.
Further reading
- Living Theater Records, circa 1947-2007 (344 boxes) are housed in the Yale University Beinecke Library.
- Julian Beck Collection, at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin.
External links
- Living Theatre records, 1945-1991, held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
- Julian Beck at IMDb
- Julian Beck at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
- Julian Beck at AllMovie
- Julian Beck at Find a Grave
| International | |
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| National | |
| Academics | |
| Artists | |
| People | |
| Other | |
- 1925 births
- 1985 deaths
- 20th-century American male actors
- 20th-century American poets
- American anarchists
- American male film actors
- American people of Jewish descent
- American theatre directors
- Bisexual male actors
- Bisexual writers
- Burials at Cedar Park Cemetery (Emerson, New Jersey)
- Deaths from cancer in New York (state)
- Deaths from stomach cancer
- Jewish American artists
- Jewish American male actors
- Jewish American writers
- Jewish anarchists
- Jewish painters
- Jewish poets
- LGBT Jews
- LGBT theatre directors
- LGBT people from New York (state)
- American LGBT poets
- American LGBT writers
- Male actors from New York City
- People from Washington Heights, Manhattan
- Poets from New York (state)
- Writers from Manhattan
- American bisexual actors