

In 1952, Bean made a guest appearance on NBC Radio's weekly hot-jazz series The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street. Given his success on that occasion, Bean decided to keep using the odd-sounding but memorable name. On another night, however, the musician suggested "Orson Bean" and the comedian received a great response from the audience, a reaction so favorable that it resulted in a job offer that same evening from a local theatrical booking agent. One night, for example, the piano player suggest "Roger Duck" but the young comedian got very few laughs after using that name in his performance. He credited its origin to a piano player named Val at " Hurley's Log Cabin", a restaurant and nightclub in Boston, Massachusetts, where he had once performed according to Bean, every evening before he went on stage at the nightclub, Val would suggest to him a silly name to use when introducing himself to the audience. In an interview on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson in 1974, Bean recounted the source of his new name.

It was during that time when he stopped using his birth name professionally and adopted the stage name Orson Bean. While stationed in post-war Japan, he developed and refined a magic act during his off-duty hours.įollowing his military service, Dallas began working in small venues as a stage magician before transitioning in the early 1950s to stand-up comedy. Dallas graduated from the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School and between 1946 and the end of 1947, he served 18 months in the United States Army. Among his other relatives is Calvin Coolidge, who was president of the United States at the time of his birth and was his first cousin twice removed. His father was a founding member of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) a fund-raiser for the Scottsboro Boys' defense and a 20-year member of the campus police of Harvard College. Carolyn did not marry again after her divorce from Orson Bean.As mentioned above, Orson Bean was born Dallas Frederick Burrows in Burlington, Vermont the son of Marian Ainsworth (nee Pollard) and George Frederick Burrows. He married Alley Mills in 1993 and built a happy life together in Los Angeles. He wrote several books, including Me and The Orgone, which were about his life and Orgone therapy. He was able to recover and his acting career took off.
#Carolyn maxwell wife of orson bean tv#
Carolyn only acted in a few TV shows after their divorce, while Bean went into depression and started doing drugs. Their daughter Susannah died in 2012, causing significant grief for the family. With all the issues, they decided to get a divorce in 1981 after 16 years of marriage. They moved back to America to get away from the curse and felt a cure that removed the black magic from their son. Bean had affairs behind her back and they believed someone had put a curse on them, causing black magic to hurt their son. Wanting to expand their horizons, they moved to Australia, but this ended up being a mistake as their conflicts and arguments increased. They married in 1965 after a few years of their relationship and had three children together: Ezekiel, Max, and Susannah. Bean was not famous when they began dating, he was just a minor stage actor. RelationshipsĬarolyn was the former wife of actor Orson Bean they met when she designed a dress for his three-year-old daughter, Michelle. She once stated that she could sew for hours without getting bored. In her early days, Carolyn lived in a tiny apartment on Park Avenue, which also served as her workplace. Through these deals, Carolyn gained more customers, most of whom came by recommendation from previous customers who were delighted with the results. A friend once asked her to make her wedding dress and the dresses of her bridesmaids, while Foxridge Sportswear tasked her with designing a range of leather sports attire. After graduating, Carolyn was presented with a number of related opportunities. At Hood College, Carolyn studied for two years, majoring in Home Economics and learning a variety of domestic skills, such as sewing.
