Veteran actor Orson Bean was tragically killed at the intersection of Shell Avenue and Pisani Place in Venice California after being struck by two vehicles Friday night. He was 91.
According to NBC, LA, Bean was reportedly walking to the Pacific Resident Theater, which he often frequented, to meet his wife Alley Mills for a show. After being struck by the first car, Bean was then hit by a second as a group tried to slow the driver down.
“A car coming westbound did not see him and clipped him and he went down,” LAPD Capt. Brian Wendling told reporters at the scene. “A second vehicle was coming up, (the driver) was distracted by people trying to slow (the driver) down and then looked up and a second traffic collision occurred and that one was fatal.”
Both drivers remained on the scene, neither was impaired and Bean’s death was being treated as an accident, according to AP.
From the original Twilight Zone to dozens of TV sitcoms, dramas and game shows, Bean was a working actor for almost 70 years and Dick Van Dyke knew him for the last 65.
“We were knocking around New York together as young comedians and I had him on our show, on Diagnosis Murder, but I was kind of the physical comedian and he was the intellectual comedian,” Van Dyke recalled to CBS, LA.
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Bean appeared in the films The Equalizer 2, Being John Malkovich and a 1959 version of Miracle on 34th Street, as well as such television shows as The Twilight Zone, Modern Family, The Bold and the Beautiful, and Desperate Housewives. His quick wit led to him being a frequent panelist on various versions of To Tell The Truth and Match Game as well as a guest on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.
One of his best known roles was as the shopkeeper Loren Bray on the series Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman.
Most recently Bean starred in the play Bad Habits, which concluded its run Jan. 26 at the Ruskin Group Theatre in Santa Monica. The cast included his wife of 27 years, Alley Mills, best known for portraying Norma Arnold on the 1988-93 ABC coming-of-age series The Wonder Years.
Bean’s death has reportedly raised ire and conversations about pedestrian safety.
