John Beal (actor)

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title: "John Beal (actor)" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1909-births", "1997-deaths", "20th-century-american-male-actors", "american-male-film-actors", "american-male-soap-opera-actors", "american-male-television-actors", "american-male-stage-actors", "american-male-radio-actors", "male-actors-from-missouri", "entertainers-from-joplin,-missouri"] description: "American actor (1909–1997)" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Beal_(actor)" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American actor (1909–1997) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]

Field	Value
name	John Beal
image	John Beal 1960.JPG
caption	Beal in 1960
birth_name	James Alexander Bliedung
birth_date
birth_place	Joplin, Missouri, U.S.
death_date
death_place	Santa Cruz, California, U.S.
alma_mater	University of Pennsylvania
occupation	Film, stage, and television actor
yearsactive	1931–1993
spouse
children	2
::

| name = John Beal | image = John Beal 1960.JPG | caption = Beal in 1960 | birth_name = James Alexander Bliedung | birth_date = | birth_place = Joplin, Missouri, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = Santa Cruz, California, U.S. | alma_mater = University of Pennsylvania | occupation = Film, stage, and television actor | yearsactive = 1931–1993 | spouse = | children = 2

John Beal (born James Alexander Bliedung, August 13, 1909 – April 26, 1997) was an American actor.

Early life

Beal was born James Alexander Bliedung in Joplin, Missouri. His father had a department store and Beal went to the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania "mapped for a commercial career." While at Wharton, Beal (who enrolled under his real name, James Alexander Bliedung) spent time drawing cartoons for the school's humor magazine and singing in productions of the Mask and Wig club.

Stage

Soon after graduating from college in 1930, Beal began acting with the Hedgerow Theatre. Beal originally went to New York to study at the Art Students League of New York. A chance to understudy in a play made him change his mind. He went on to appear in Russet Mantle and She Loves Me.

Film

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ca/Anne_Shirley_and_John_Beal_in_M'Liss,_1936.jpg" caption="Anne Shirley]] in 1936."] ::

Beal began acting in films with Another Language (1933), in which he re-created his stage role. He appeared opposite Katharine Hepburn (in the 1934 RKO film The Little Minister), 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).

Radio and television

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/Cat-and-the-Canary-1939.jpg" caption="[[Douglass Montgomery]], [[Bob Hope]], [[Paulette Goddard]] and"] ::

Beal in The Cat and the Canary (1939)]] During the summer of 1948, Beal acted in The Amazing Mr. Tutt on CBS radio.

Beal was host of Freedom Rings, a game show on CBS-TV in 1953. 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, "The Deidesheimer Story". Beal starred as Dr. Lewis on the ABC serial Road to Reality in 1960-1961. He portrayed Dr. Henden on the primetime medical drama The Nurses in the early 1960s and appeared on an afternoon version of the program in the latter half of the 1960s.

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, but was fired by creator and headwriter Irna Phillips after only one episode.

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.

In 1976, Beal portrayed Charles Francis Adams Sr. in the PBS dramatic series The Adams Chronicles. 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.

Personal life

Beal was married to actress Helen Craig They had two daughters.

Filmography

::data[format=table]

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1933	Another Language	Jerry Hallam
1934	Hat, Coat and Glove	Jerry Hutchins
1934	The Little Minister	Gavin
1935	Laddie	Laddie Stanton
1935	Les Misérables	Marius	directed by Richard Boleslavsky
1935	Break of Hearts	Johnny Lawrence
1936	M'Liss	Stephen Thorne
1937	We Who Are About to Die	John E. 'Johnny' Thompson
1937	The Man Who Found Himself	Dr. James Stanton Jr.
1937	Border Cafe	Keith Whitney
1937	Madame X	Raymond Fleuriot
1937	Double Wedding	Waldo Beaver
1937	Danger Patrol	Dan Loring
1937	Beg, Borrow or Steal	Count Bill Cherau
1938	Port of Seven Seas	Marius
1938	I Am the Law	Paul Ferguson
1938	The Arkansas Traveler	John 'Johnnie' Daniels
1939	The Great Commandment	Joel
1939	The Cat and the Canary	Fred Blythe
1941	Ellery Queen and the Perfect Crime	Walter Matthews
1941	Doctors Don't Tell	Dr. Ralph Sawyer
1942	One Thrilling Night	Horace Jason
1942	Atlantic Convoy	Carl Hansen
1942	Stand By All Networks	Ben Fallon
1943	Let's Have Fun	Richard Gilbert
1943	Edge of Darkness	Johann Stensgard
1947	Key Witness	Milton Higby
1947	Messenger of Peace	Pastor Armin Ritter
1948	So Dear to My Heart	Jeremiah as an Adult - Narrator	Voice
1949	Alimony	Dan Barker
1949	Song of Surrender	Dubois
1949	Chicago Deadline	Paul Jean d'Ur
1952	My Six Convicts	Dr. Wilson aka Doc
1953	Remains to Be Seen	Dr. Glenson
1954	New Faces		director of sketches
1954	Studio One	"Twelve Angry Men" (TV episode)	Juror No. 2
1957	The Vampire	Dr. Paul Beecher
1957	That Night!	Commuter Christopher J. Bowden
1959	The Sound and the Fury	Howard Compson
1959	Bonanza	Philip Diedesheimer	Episode: "The Phillip Diedesheimer Story"
1960	Ten Who Dared	Maj. John Wesley Powell
1973	The Bride	Father
1975	The Legend of Lizzie Borden	Dr. Bowen	TV movie
1976	The Adams Chronicles	Charles Francis Adams	3 episodes
1983	Amityville 3-D	Harold Caswell
1993	The Firm	Nathan Locke
::

References

References

1. (2003). "Screen World Presents the Encyclopedia of Hollywood Film Actors: From the silent era to 1965". Hal Leonard Corporation.
2. (February 17, 1946). "Candid Close-ups". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle.
3. (May 23, 1936). "School Acting Paves Way for Career In Movies; Anne Shirley Has Every Chance". The Dayton Herald.
4. "John Beal". The Broadway League.
5. (1999). "Screen World 1998". Hal Leonard Corporation.
6. (May 1, 1997). "John Beal, 87, Actor In Films and Theater". [[The New York Times]].
7. (1999). "Radio Programs, 1924-1984: A Catalog of More Than 1800 Shows". McFarland & Company, Inc..
8. [http://www.bonanzaboomers.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=82&t=25443#p1005382 "The Deidesheimer Story"], ''Bonanza Booomers''
9. (May 12, 1964). "Serial Shakedown". [[Gettysburg Times]].
10. (2011). "Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010". McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers.
11. (May 7, 1987). "On stage with 'daddy'". Santa Cruz Sentinel.

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