Jim Beaver




























Jim Beaver

Jim Beaver Phoenix Comicon May 2015.jpg
Beaver in May 2015

Born
James Norman Beaver Jr.


(1950-08-12) August 12, 1950 (age 68)

Laramie, Wyoming, U.S.

Occupation Actor, playwright, screenwriter, film historian
Years active 1972–present
Spouse(s)
Debbie Young
(m. 1973; div. 1976)



Cecily Adams
(m. 1989; died 2004)

Children 1

James Norman Beaver Jr. (born August 12, 1950) is an American actor, playwright, screenwriter, and film historian. He is most familiar to worldwide audiences as Bobby Singer in Supernatural. He also played Whitney Ellsworth on the HBO Western drama series Deadwood, which brought him acclaim and a Screen Actors Guild Awards nomination for Ensemble Acting, and Sheriff Shelby Parlow on the FX series Justified. His memoir Life's That Way was published in April 2009.[1]




Contents






  • 1 Early life


  • 2 Military service and education


  • 3 Career


  • 4 Personal life


  • 5 Filmography


    • 5.1 Film


    • 5.2 Television


    • 5.3 Web series




  • 6 Literary works


    • 6.1 Books


    • 6.2 Fiction


    • 6.3 Plays


    • 6.4 Magazine articles




  • 7 See also


  • 8 References


  • 9 External links





Early life


Beaver was born in Laramie, Wyoming, the son of Dorothy Adell (née Crawford) and James Norman Beaver, Sr. (1924–2004), a minister.[2] His father was of English and French heritage; the family name was originally de Beauvoir, and Beaver is a distant cousin of author and philosopher Simone de Beauvoir and Pennsylvania governor General James A. Beaver.[3] Beaver's mother has Cherokee, German, and Scottish ancestry, and is a descendant of three-time U.S. Attorney General John J. Crittenden.[4]


Although his parents' families had both long been in Texas, Beaver was born in Laramie, as his father was doing graduate work in accounting at the University of Wyoming. Returning to Texas, Beaver Sr. worked as an accountant and as a minister for the Church of Christ in Fort Worth, Crowley, Dallas, and Grapevine. For most of Beaver's youth, his family lived in Irving, Texas, even while his father preached in surrounding communities. He and his three younger sisters (Denise, Reneé, and Teddlie) all attended Irving High School, where he was a classmate of ZZ Top drummer Frank Beard, but he transferred in his senior year to Fort Worth Christian Academy, from which he graduated in 1968. He also took courses at Fort Worth Christian College. Later, he attended Oklahoma Christian College. Despite having appeared in some elementary school plays, he showed no particular interest in an acting career, but immersed himself in film history and expressed a desire for a career as a writer, publishing a few short stories in his high school anthology.



Military service and education


Less than two months after his graduation from high school, Beaver followed several of his close friends into the United States Marine Corps. Following basic training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, Beaver was trained there as a microwave radio relay technician. He served at the Marine Corps Base Twentynine Palms and at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton before being transferred to the 1st Marine Division near Da Nang, South Vietnam in 1970. He served as a radio operator at an outlying detachment of the 1st Marine Regiment, then as supply chief for the division communications company. He returned to the U.S. in 1971 and was discharged as Corporal (E-4), though he remained active in the Marine Reserve until 1976.


Upon his release from active duty in 1971, Beaver returned to Irving, and worked briefly for Frito-Lay as a corn-chip dough mixer. He entered what is now Oklahoma Christian University, where he became interested in theatre. He made his true theatrical debut in a small part in The Miracle Worker. The following year, he transferred to Central State University (now known as the University of Central Oklahoma). He performed in numerous plays in college and supported himself as a cabdriver, a movie projectionist, a tennis-club maintenance man, and an amusement-park stuntman at Frontier City. He also worked as a newscaster and hosted jazz and classical music programs on radio station KCSC. During his college days, he also began to write, completing several plays and also his first book, on actor John Garfield, while still a student. Beaver graduated with a degree in Oral Communications in 1975.[5] He briefly pursued graduate studies, but soon returned to Irving, Texas.



Career




Beaver as his Whitney Ellsworth character in Deadwood


Beaver made his professional stage debut in October 1972, while still a college student, in Rain, from W. Somerset Maugham's short story, at the Oklahoma Theatre Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. After returning to Texas, he did a great deal of local theatre in the Dallas area, supporting himself as a film cleaner at a 16 mm film rental firm and as a stagehand for the Dallas Ballet. He joined the Shakespeare Festival of Dallas in 1976, performing in numerous productions. In 1979, he was commissioned by Actors Theatre of Louisville to write the first of three plays for that company (Spades, Sidekick and Semper Fi), and was twice a finalist in the theatre's national Great American Play Contest (for Once Upon a Single Bound and Verdigris). Along with plays, he continued writing for film journals and for several years was a columnist, critic and feature writer for the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures magazine Films in Review.


Moving to New York City in 1979, Beaver worked steadily onstage in stock and on tour, simultaneously writing plays and researching a biography of actor George Reeves (a project which he still pursues between acting jobs). He appeared in starring roles in such plays as The Hasty Heart and The Rainmaker in Birmingham, Alabama and The Lark in Manchester, New Hampshire, and toured the country as Macduff in Macbeth and in The Last Meeting of the Knights of the White Magnolia. During this period, he ghostwrote the book Movie Blockbusters for critic Steven Scheuer.


In 1983, he moved to Los Angeles, California to continue research on his biography of George Reeves. He worked for a year as the film archivist for the Variety Arts Center. Following a reading of his play Verdigris, he was asked to join the prestigious Theatre West company in Hollywood, where he continues as an actor and playwright to this day. Verdigris was produced to very good reviews in 1985 and Beaver was signed by the powerful Triad Artists agency. He immediately began to work writing episodes of various television series, including Alfred Hitchcock Presents (he received a 1987 CableACE Award nomination for his very first TV script, for this show), Tour of Duty and Vietnam War Story. He also worked occasionally in small roles in films and television.


The 1988 Writers Guild of America strike fundamentally altered the freelance television writing market, and Beaver's television writing career came to an abrupt halt. However, a chance meeting led to his being cast as the best friend of star Bruce Willis in Norman Jewison's drama about Vietnam veterans, In Country, and his acting career suddenly took up the slack where his television writing career had faltered. (Beaver was the only actual Vietnam veteran among the principal cast of In Country.)


Subsequently, he has appeared in many popular films, including Sister Act, Sliver, Bad Girls, Adaptation., Magnolia and The Life of David Gale. He starred in the television series Thunder Alley as the comic sidekick to Ed Asner, and as homicide cop Earl Gaddis on Reasonable Doubts. He was also French Stewart's sullen boss Happy Doug on the sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun.


In 2002, Beaver was cast as one of the stars of the ensemble Western drama Deadwood in the role of Whitney Ellsworth, a goldminer whom he often described as "Gabby Hayes with Tourette syndrome".[6] Ellsworth went from being a filth-covered reprobate to marrying the richest woman in town and becoming a beloved and stalwart figure in the community. (Originally Ellsworth did not have a first name, but when it became necessary to provide one, Beaver requested he be named Whitney Ellsworth, after the producer of George Reeves's Adventures of Superman.) He continued his long research for the Reeves biography, and in 2005 served as the historical/biographical consultant on the theatrical feature film about Reeves's death, Hollywoodland.


Beaver in 2006 joined the cast of the HBO drama John from Cincinnati while simultaneously playing the recurring roles of Bobby Singer on Supernatural and Carter Reese on another HBO drama Big Love, appearing at least once a season on Supernatural.[7] He then took on the role of Sheriff Charlie Mills in the CBS drama Harper's Island. He has recurred as the gun dealer Lawson on Breaking Bad and its prequel Better Call Saul, and played Sheriff Shelby Parlow for three seasons on FX's Justified.


Following his acclaimed work in Justified, Beaver had a starring role in Guillermo del Toro's gothic ghost story feature film, Crimson Peak, in a part del Toro wrote for him. He has also completed roles in the feature films The Frontier and Billy Boy.


His memoir of the year following his wife's 2003 diagnosis of lung cancer, entitled Life's That Way, was purchased in a preemptive bid by Putnam/Penguin publishers in the fall of 2007.[8] Prior to publication in April, 2009, it was chosen for the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers program for 2009.[1]


His performance in The Silence of Bees won him the Best Actor Award at the 2010 New York Film and Video Festival.[9]


Beaver was nominated for Best Guest Performance in a Drama by the Broadcast Television Journalists' Association Critics' Choice Awards in 2013, for his performance as Sheriff Shelby Parlow on Justified. (He lost to Jane Fonda.) He was on many industry prediction lists for the 2013 Emmy for that performance, but was ultimately not nominated.


He wrote and directed the short film Night Riders (2013), based upon his play of the same title.


In 2014, he was given the Lifetime Merit Award of the Idyllwild International Festival of Cinema.[10]


Beaver studied acting with Clyde Ventura and Academy Award-winning actor Maximilian Schell.[11]


In March 2015, Theatre West presented a 30th anniversary revival of Beaver's play Verdigris, with Beaver in a starring role.


Actress Maureen Stapleton played the leading role in a workshop of Beaver's play Verdigris in 1985 at the Berkshire Theatre Festival. In June, 2016, Beaver returned to the Festival to play Big Daddy in Tennessee Williams's Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.[12]



Personal life


For several years after his move to California, Beaver shared a house with character actor Hank Worden, who had been a friend since Beaver's childhood.


During college, Beaver married a fellow student, Debbie Young, in August 1973; the couple separated four months later, though divorce did not occur until 1976.


In 1989, following four years of dating, Beaver married actress and casting director Cecily Adams. Their daughter, Madeline, was born in 2001. Adams died of lung cancer on March 3, 2004.[11]


Beaver has been in a romantic relationship since 2016 with actress-singer Sarah Spiegel. They became engaged in May 2018.



Filmography



Film









































































































































































































































































































Year
Title
Role
Notes
1977

Semi-Tough
B.E.A.T. Member
Uncredited
1978

The Seniors
Client
Uncredited
1979

Warnings
The Artist
Short film
1981

Nighthawks
Subway Passenger
Uncredited
1983

Girls of the White Orchid
Pedestrian
Uncredited
1983

Silkwood
Plant Manager

1985

File 8022
Ben Crysler

1987

Sweet Revenge
Smuggler
Uncredited
1987

Hollywood Shuffle
Postal Worker

1988

Two Idiots in Hollywood
Crying Man

1988

Defense Play
FBI Agent

1989

Mergers & Acquisitions
Gabby Hayes
Short film
1989

Turner & Hooch
Plant Manager

1989

The Cherry
The Captain
Short film
1989

In Country
Earl Smith

1990

El Diablo
Spivey Irick

1990

The Court-Martial of Jackie Robinson
Maj. Trimble

1991

Little Secrets
Liquor Store Cashier
Credited as Richard Muldoon
1992

Sister Act
Detective Clarkson

1993

Sliver
Detective Ira

1993

Geronimo: An American Legend
Proclamation officer

1994

Twogether
Oscar

1994

Blue Chips
Ricky's Father

1994

Children of the Dark
Roddy Gibbons
Deliberately uncredited
1994

Bad Girls
Pinkerton Detective Graves

1997

Wounded
Agent Eric Ashton

1998

At Sachem Farm
Foreman

1999

Impala
Sheriff Bert Davis
Short film
1999

Ah! Silenciosa
Ambrose Bierce
Short film
1999

Magnolia
Smiling Peanut Patron #1

2000

Fraud
Detective Mason
Short film
2000

Where the Heart Is
Clawhammer
Scenes deleted
2001

Joy Ride
Sheriff Ritter

2002

Wheelmen
Agent Hammond

2002

Adaptation.
Ranger Tony

2003

The Life of David Gale
Duke Grover

2003

Wave Babes
Amos Nandy

2003

The Commission
Howard L. Brennan

2007

Next
Wisdom

2007

Cooties
The Man
Short film
2008

Reflections
Frank
Short film
2008

The Silence of Bees
Parker Lam
Short film
2009

Dark and Stormy Night
Jack Tugdon

2011

The Legend of Hell's Gate: An American Conspiracy
J. Wright Mooar

2013

Night Riders

Short film; writer, director, executive producer
2015

The Frontier
Lee

2015

Crimson Peak
Carter Cushing

2017

Billy Boy
Crabtree



Television















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Year
Title
Role
Notes
1978

Desperado
Nathan
TV film
1978–1979

Dallas
Diner/Julie's Gardener
2 episodes
1979

Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders
Cowboy player
TV film
1986

Divorce Court
Wrench McCoy

1987

Jake and the Fatman
Defense Attorney
Episode: "Fatal Attraction"
1988

Matlock
Barney Sutler
Episode: "The Umpire"
1988

Paradise
Frank Foster
Episode: "The Holstered Gun"
1988

Perry Mason: The Case of the Lady in the Lake
Motel Manager
TV film
1989

CBS Summer Playhouse
Wrong House Neighbor
Episode: "Elysian Fields"
1989

The Young Riders
Johnson
Episode: "The Kid"
1989

Mothers, Daughters and Lovers
Sheriff Jack Edzard
TV film
1990

Follow Your Heart
Craig Hraboy
TV film
1990

Midnight Caller
Tom Barlow
Episode: "Ryder on the Storm"
1990

Nasty Boys
Wetstone
Episode: "Desert Run"
1990

Father Dowling Mysteries
Drake
Episode: "The Murder Weekend Mystery"
1991–1993

Santa Barbara
Andy the Rapist/Motel man
5 episodes
1991–1993

Reasonable Doubts
Detective Earl Gaddis
13 episodes
1992

Gunsmoke: To the Last Man
Deputy Willie Rudd
TV film
1993

Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman
Henry Barnes
Episode: "I'm Looking Through You"
1993

Thunder Alley
Leland DuParte
28 episodes
1993

Gunsmoke IV: The Long Ride
Traveling blacksmith
TV film
1995

Home Improvement
Duke Miller
Episode: "Doctor in the House"
1995

Unsolved Mysteries
Himself
Episode: "Who Killed Superman?"
1996

High Incident
Father in Wreck
Episode: "Women & Children First"
1996–1997

Murder One
Donald Cleary
2 episodes
1996

Bone Chillers

Edgar Allan Poe
Episode: "Edgar Allan Poe-Session"
1996–2004

Days of Our Lives
Father Timothy Jansen
26 episodes
1997

NYPD Blue
Truck Driver / Jesus Christ
Episode: "Taillight's Last Gleaming"
1997

Moloney
Detective Ashton
Episode: "The Ripple Effect"
1997

Spy Game
Thornbush
Episode: "Lorne and Max Drop the Ball"
1997

Total Security
Detective McKissick
Episode: "Das Bootie"
1997

Divided by Hate
Danny Leland
TV film
1998

Melrose Place
Ranger Virgil
Episode: "Amanda's Back"
1998

Pensacola: Wings of Gold
Actor
Episode: "Power Play"
1998

Mr. Murder
Agent Jason Reiling
TV film
1998–1999

E! Mysteries & Scandals
Himself
2 episodes
1998–1999

3rd Rock from the Sun
Happy Doug
7 episodes
1999

The X-Files
Coroner
Episode: "Field Trip"
2000

Biography
Himself
Episode: "George Reeves: The Perils of a Superhero"
2000

The Trouble with Normal
Gary
8 episodes
2001

That '70s Show
Tony
Episode: "Who Wants It More?"
2001

The Division
Fred Zito
Episode: "High on the Hog"
2001

Star Trek: Enterprise
Admiral Daniel Leonard
Episode: "Broken Bow: Part 1"
2001

The West Wing
Carl
Episode: "Manchester: Part 1"
2001

Philly
Nelson Vanderhoff
Episode: "Loving Sons"
2001

Warden of Red Rock
Jefferson Bent
TV film
2003

Andy Richter Controls the Universe
Craig
Episode: "Charity Begins in Cellblock D"
2003

Six Feet Under
Prison Officer
Episode: "Twilight"
2003

Tremors
Sheriff Sam Boggs
Episode: "Water Hazard"
2003

The Lyon's Den
Hank Ferris
Episode: "The Other Side of Caution"
2004

Monk
Sheriff Mathis
Episode: "Mr. Monk Gets Married"
2004

Crossing Jordan
Ranger Diggory
Episode: "Revealed"
2004–2006

Deadwood
Whitney Ellsworth
36 episodes
2006

The Unit
Lloyd Cole
Episode: "Manhunt"
2006

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
Stanley Tanner
2 episodes
2006–present

Supernatural

Bobby Singer
63 episodes
2007

Day Break
'Uncle' Nick Vukovic
5 episodes
2007

John from Cincinnati
Vietnam Joe
8 episodes
2007

Big Love
Carter Reese
3 episodes
2007

Criminal Minds
Sheriff Williams
Episode: "Identity"
2009

Harper's Island
Sheriff Charlie Mills
11 episodes
2009

Psych
Stinky Pete Dillingham
Episode: "High Noon-ish"
2010

Law & Order: Los Angeles
Frank Loomis
Episode: "Hollywood"
2010

The Mentalist
Cobb Holwell
Episode: "The Red Ponies"
2010

Lie to Me
Gus
Episode: "Veronica"
2010

Love Bites
Trucker
Episode: "Keep On Truckin'"
2011–2012

Breaking Bad
Lawson
2 episodes
2011–2013

Justified
Sheriff Shelby Parlow
14 episodes
2012

Dexter[13]
Clint McKay
Episode: "The Dark...Whatever"
2013

The Middle
Mr. Stokes
Episode: "Dollar Days"
2013

Mike & Molly
Dwight
2 episodes
2013

Longmire
Lee Roskey
Episode: "Natural Order"
2013

Revolution
John Franklin Fry
2 episodes
2014

Major Crimes
Donald Beckwith
Episode: "Return to Sender Part 2"
2014

NCIS
Captain Tom O'Rourke
Episode: "The San Dominick"
2016

Better Call Saul
Lawson
2 episodes;
Same character from Breaking Bad
2016

Bones
George Gibbons
Episode: "The Monster in the Closet"
2017

NCIS: New Orleans
Rig Manager Jackson Hauser
Episode: "Hell on the High Water"
2017

Timeless
Jake Neville
3 episodes
2017

Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders
Donald Atwood
Episode: "Blowback"
2017–present

The Ranch
Chuck Phillips
9 episodes


Web series















Year
Title
Role
Notes
2015

The New Adventures of Peter and Wendy
George Darling



Literary works



Books




  • John Garfield: His Life and Films (1978)


  • Movie Blockbusters (with Steven Scheuer) (1982, revised edition 1983)


  • Life's That Way: A Memoir (2009)



Fiction



  • The Afternoon Blood Show, Alfred Hitchock's Mystery Magazine, April 29, 1981


Plays




  • The Cop and the Anthem (adapted from the short story by O. Henry) (1973)[14]


  • Once Upon a Single Bound (1974)[14]


  • As You Like It, or Anything You Want To, Also Known as Rotterdam and Parmesan Are Dead (1975)[14]


  • The Ox-Bow Incident (adapted from the novel by Walter Van Tilburg Clark) (1978)[14]


  • Spades (1979)[14]


  • Sidekick (1981)[14]


  • Semper Fi (1984)[14]


  • Verdigris (1985)[14]


  • Truth, Justice, and the Texican Way (1986)[14]


  • Pressing Engagements (1990)[14]


  • Mockingbird (2003)[14]


  • Night Riders (2006)


  • The American Way (2011)


  • Whigs, Pigs, and Greyhounds (2011)


  • Lettering (2013)



Magazine articles



  • "John Wayne", Films in Review, May 1977

  • "George Raft", Films in Review, April 1978

  • "John Carradine", Films in Review, October 1979

  • "James Stewart", Films in Review, October 1980

  • "Steve McQueen", Films in Review, August–September 1981

  • "Frank Perry", Films in Review, November 1981

  • "Strother Martin", Films in Review, November 1982

  • "Ad Glib" (regular column). Films in Review, November 1981 – December 1983



See also




References





  1. ^ ab "Life's That Way - Home". lifesthatway.com. Retrieved 18 August 2016..mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit}.mw-parser-output q{quotes:"""""""'""'"}.mw-parser-output code.cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration{color:#555}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration span{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-right{padding-right:0.2em}


  2. ^ "Jim Beaver Biography (1950-)". filmreference.com. Retrieved 18 August 2016.


  3. ^ Beaver, Irvin, History and genealogy of the Bieber, Beaver, Biever, Beeber family, Higginson Book Co., 2003, ASIN B0006S644M


  4. ^ Coleman, Mrs. Chapman, The Life of John J. Crittenden, Da Capo Press, 1970,
    ISBN 0-306-71843-X



  5. ^ Author dust jacket bio, Beaver, James N., John Garfield: His Life and Films, Cranbury NJ: A.S. Barnes & Co., 1978,
    ISBN 0-498-01890-3



  6. ^ "RARA-AVIS Archives: Re: RARA-AVIS: RE: Deadwood". miskatonic.org. Retrieved 18 August 2016.


  7. ^ "Some Hints of What's Coming in Supernatural Season Six". dreadcentral.com. 17 July 2010. Retrieved 18 August 2016.


  8. ^ "article". publishersweekly.com. Retrieved 18 August 2016.


  9. ^ Nyfilmvideo.info; Archived at: Archived May 18, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.


  10. ^ Idyllwildcinemafest.com


  11. ^ ab Jim Beaver: HBO: Deadwood


  12. ^ "John Gray's Fade to Gray column: Beaver on a hot tin roof". troyrecord.com. Retrieved 18 August 2016.


  13. ^ Kubicek, John. "Cas and Bobby Returning for 'Supernatural' Season 6," BuddyTV.com. (accessed October 1, 2013)


  14. ^ abcdefghijk Doollee.com - Playwrights - Jim Beaver (accessed October 1, 2013)




External links








  • Jim Beaver on IMDb


  • Jim Beaver at AllMovie

  • Bio at HBO.com

  • Life's That Way

  • Interview Jim Beaver









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